Mr. Chair, I understand the comments made by my colleagues Mr. Arya and Mr. Christopherson. However, I appreciate that the deputy minister mentioned in his opening statement that even though he has only been in the position for three weeks, he wanted to make sure that he could answer our questions; he also said that he is responsible for questions arising from the Auditor General's report, and for activities in his department over the past years. I appreciate this.
I would also like to thank Mr. Ferguson for his report, which highlights certain concerns and provides the Department of Employment and Social Development with an opportunity to give us some clarifications, on its action plan in particular.
I'd like to start with a question for the department representatives. In his report, the Auditor General mentioned that the unemployment rate in indigenous communities was about 11%. That is, of course, an average, since the unemployment rate is much higher than that in some communities.
I will ask my first question. Can you remind us of what the department is doing to ensure that employment and training programs for indigenous communities will be more effective and better focused on the needs of those communities?