Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our two witnesses this morning.
I would like to preface with an acknowledgement that I'm coming to you from the unceded unsurrendered Wolastoqiyik territories here in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Of course, in conversations around emergency preparedness I'm very much thinking about our colleagues and communities in the Atlantic. We're doing okay here in New Brunswick, but all Maritimers are connected so we're very much thinking about everyone who has been seriously impacted by Hurricane Fiona.
Dr. Nicol, I would love to begin with you. I very much appreciate the educator perspective you brought to the conversation today as that's also where I identify.
You have also opened up a new line of questioning: how do we characterize what a disaster is or what an emergency is? James Smith Cree First Nation certainly would fit in that category. I didn't previously anticipate that, so I want to thank you for bringing that into our discussion today.
You mentioned the need for research and programming. That's certainly where my headspace was, prior to coming into politics. There have been so many studies with incredible recommendations that have come out about supporting indigenous communities in the north, in terms of all these topics we're dealing with.
How can we be more effective in better communicating findings and actually implementing those recommendations, so we're not seeing these reports just collect dust on a shelf?