Thank you, Mr. Chair and Ms. Sinclair‑Desgagné.
Let's be clear. I've never claimed indigenous status. I've never applied for an indigenous-only contract. My companies and I have not received one dollar of government money for indigenous-specific funding.
I want you to know that I completely agree with you. I think we need to look at the issue of pretendians. What they're doing is wrong, it's wrong, and it shouldn't be done. I'm completely on your side and on the side of the first nations, who have worked very hard to take back their rights. They have worked very hard to try to achieve some equity with non-indigenous people. We must outright denounce the fact that people are falsely claiming to be indigenous, period.
I'm not a pretendian. I've never claimed to be an indigenous person. The fact that my former business partner sent this email to the government without my knowledge is reprehensible. That's part of why I'm going to take him to court. I'm very disappointed to have learned about his actions in the media. To me, it's completely reprehensible. In fact, that's why I resigned from cabinet, so that I could take him to court and have as much leeway as possible.
I completely agree with you and with indigenous peoples. Only indigenous peoples must have access to funds reserved for indigenous peoples. In this case, the criteria and procedures in place prevented that company from receiving funding, and that's a very good thing.