Thank you, Madam Gill. I think I would just reiterate what we spoke about. The state of the housing situation as we identified it presents several challenges, but it also offers us a share of the opportunities. We spoke about the socio-economic impacts that could result from the federal government funding the catch-up project that we have been discussing. The links between housing and other spheres of society have been demonstrated, so investing heavily in first nations housing could benefit us in other areas, especially in stimulating the economy and addressing some of the social ills and future social development of our communities.
Our figures also show that every time the federal government has made additional investments in housing, for instance through Canada's economic action plan, the impact on the core needs has been visible. We can demonstrate in Quebec that it reduces core needs, which means that the impacts are being felt locally.
I guess my final message is that we need stable, predictable funding and that the current funding levels are insufficient to meet our needs. When we're telling you we need to build 1,000 to 2,000 units per year and the current funding level allows us to do only 245, that speaks to a huge gap. Then when you take the data that Regional Chief Woodhouse spoke about, which has been diligently collected by the AFN over the past couple of years so that we have a national picture, you get a clear sense of the scope of the issue.
Again, I think that for Quebec, home ownership is part of our solution, but not for all communities. We need to work and find different tools. Regional Chief Woodhouse spoke of ministerial loan guarantees. Here in Quebec, many first nations do not require ministerial loan guarantees as they have been able to establish relationships with banking institutions like the Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal. These banks work with the communities to provide mortgages for our members who have the ability to repay. Subsequently, we will move the spectrum from dependence on social housing towards one in which we have a mix of social housing for those in need and home ownership for those who can afford it.
Again, thank you very much, Madame Gill and other members of the committee, for inviting me and the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador to speak about the challenges but, more importantly, the opportunities and the plan we've developed.
I could sit here and be very critical of the government and Indigenous Services and CMHC, but it is not helpful if we only criticize and we do not bring forward viable options and solutions that specifically meet the realities of first nations here in Quebec.
Thank you. Meegwetch.