Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
From the outset I just want to say that our government has a strong and ongoing commitment to improving the lives of aboriginals. We have made progress and we are achieving concrete results in areas such as economic development, infrastructure, education, water, child and family services, and land claim settlements. We recognize that more needs to be done, but we also know that this work needs to be done in collaboration with first nations. We must build and strengthen capacity together and ensure there is transparency and accountability for all first nations communities. We will continue to move forward on initiatives that support progress and improve the lives of aboriginals.
My first question today is for the interim Auditor General. Sheila Fraser took time to pay particular attention to the efforts and actions of the government when it came to the $70 billion in spending to improve aboriginal services. Can you explain to us why Ms. Fraser took such an effort to highlight this component of her report?