Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank Ministers Miller and Hajdu and their officials, and Ms. Roset‑Zuppa and Mr. Williams, for testifying before the committee today.
I have a huge number of questions, as I am the member of Parliament for a constituency where almost 15% of the population is indigenous. It is a vast territory where people live in places with no air or road access. Sometimes, they travel from one community to another by snowmobile. The needs are great. The communities are remote, yes, but they are also isolated.
There is one thing I would like to find out because I find it important. There is a lot of general talk about figures and strategies. There is talk of budget 2021 and what was in the budget statement. But we don't really see anything concrete, anything actually happening, with a few exceptions I might mention in my own constituency. This is all about Maslow's pyramid. Shelter is a basic need. We need to be protected and physically safe in order to live. It's as simple as that.
I would like to talk about the many impacts that the housing shortage has on First Nations. Ms. Hajdu told us about COVID‑19, of course. Its effects are made exponentially worse by the housing shortage. However, I would like to hear more from her about other effects because COVID‑19 is a recent problem going back to 2019, whereas the shortage has been going on for 60 years.
Can she talk about a number of other effects that the housing shortage has on First Nations?