Good afternoon, everyone.
I call this meeting to order.
We are unfortunately starting a bit late, but we will try to stick to our agenda.
Welcome to meeting 22 of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
We are gathered here today on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation.
Today, we will spend the first hour hearing from our last witnesses on the NIHB study and spend about 30 minutes on drafting instructions for that report. We'll also consider the second version of our draft housing report, which was circulated last week.
Last, but not least, we'll consider the travel budget for our Arctic sovereignty, security and emergency preparedness study for the fall. If we’re all in agreement, we'll instruct the clerk to submit that to the liaison committee.
Today, we are completing our third study on the administration and accessibility of indigenous peoples to the non-insured health benefits program.
On today’s panel, we are hearing from Lee Allison Clark, manager of policy and research at the Native Women’s Association of Canada, who is with us in person. Joy Idlout is here as an individual, as is Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.
I would like to remind everyone to comply with the requirements established by the Board of Internal Economy concerning physical distancing and mask wearing.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow. Members or witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services in English, French and Inuktitut are available for the first part of today’s meeting. Please be patient with the interpretation. There could be a bit of a delay, especially since the Inuktitut has to be translated into English first before it can be translated into French, and vice versa.
The interpretation button is found at the bottom of your screen for English, French or Inuktitut. If interpretation is lost, please let us know and we'll pause to try to fix the problem. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or alert the chair.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute. I would remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair.
The way we do this is that each of the witnesses will be invited to speak for five minutes. I would ask you to respect those five minutes, after which we will have a question period.
Thank you to the witnesses who are appearing today. We will now proceed. I will begin by asking Ms. Clark to start.
Ms. Clark, you have five minutes.