Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you so much, Minister, for appearing today, and I thank your team as well.
I want to focus on the importance of involving indigenous voices and communities themselves in this process. The Auditor General testified last week on the importance of prioritizing and supporting first nation management plans as a key step in addressing the gaps that exist and acting with a more collaborative and preventative approach.
Can you explain to the committee why it's important to have first nations communities lead the way with their own approaches that work for them? If you've visited any communities where you might have learned some lessons about this, perhaps you could share that with us.