Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Ferguson.
I want to mention at the outset the enormous respect I have for the work that you and your predecessor did on shining a light into the black hole that was indigenous affairs and is now Indigenous Services.
This day is the eighth anniversary of the death of Shannen Koostachin, who was the youth leader who had never seen a real school, living in a country like Canada. She fought for education. I find it appalling that after every report your department has come out with we're still talking about the “incomprehensible failure”. If a department refuses to put the interests of children first, there's nothing “incomprehensible” about the failure. This is a predictable outcome. What's “incomprehensible” is how governments and departments year in, year out could have such a disregard for children, the children of Canada.
I want to start off looking at page 13, where you talk about the importance of literacy. In 2013-14, Indigenous affairs, for the first time that I ever remember, did a report on the “Success” program, in which they listed literacy and numeracy rates. In the Ontario region, the literacy rate for boys was 21%, and the numeracy rates were 18% for boys and 20% for girls. For the Waterloo public board, the literacy rates are 85%, and yet the department at that time announced in the same report that they were discontinuing keeping track because they thought the money could be spent better elsewhere.
I ask you, with your concerns about literacy, what better thing could a department that looks after children's education spend money on than finding out whether or not children can read?