I want to return to the accountability aspect. This is a committee for delivering accountability to Canadians.
I appreciate some of the remarks we've heard. There are many other committees of Parliament that can examine different ways we can solve policy issues. There are committees on government operations, human resources, indigenous affairs. This is about accountability for what has happened.
I didn't really get much of an answer in my round. Mr. Christopherson very bluntly and succinctly pointed out that there is no answer to the question of the “why”. I think we probably would mostly agree that every government for the last 40 or 50 years has, in good faith and earnestly, examined the systemic barriers to employment and to better conditions, both on reserve and for indigenous Canadians who live in cities, yet, as has been pointed out, we struggle to answer basic questions about what happened to the money we spent on programs.
I'm going to ask Mr. Flack for another crack at the answer to the “why”, but before I do I want to also say, Mr. Chair, that I will add my voice to support Mr. Arya's point that it would seem we really do need to speak to Mr. Flack's predecessor.