That's great. Thank you, Chair.
My name is Brendan Mitchell. I am the Assembly of First Nations regional chief for Newfoundland.
In my role at the Assembly of First Nations, I chair the management committee, but I'm also a portfolio holder and chair of the chiefs' committee on housing and infrastructure. There, we also talk about water and homelessness.
I'm honoured to be here with you today, and I acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
I always enjoy coming to Ottawa. We're here today, Chief Lance and I and those online, with an opportunity to speak to those who I believe are some significant people in this country in terms of helping us, hopefully, with the conditions we have in our communities.
Having housing, water, highways, community buildings, utilities and reliable Internet are things that many Canadians take for granted. I was one of those Canadians, living in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, where we have an abundance of all these things. I can still go to a salmon river and fish and scoop up a cup of water out of a river and drink without fear of contamination or getting sick. We've been blessed in many ways to be in that part of the world, but for many people in our communities, these items are not readily available, and they lack those conditions enjoyed by most Canadians.
For first nations, chasing or closing the infrastructure gap is among the most ambitious, significant and overdue commitments that the Government of Canada has made.
It was disheartening that the Auditor General's report on housing in first nations communities highlighted a distressing and persistent pattern of failure on the part of the federal government to address first nations housing needs. I'm deeply troubled by the Auditor General's findings and the government's lack of progress and ability to effectively address the ongoing crisis of unsafe and inadequate housing in first nations in this country.
The Auditor General's report reaffirms what first nations have been saying about the housing crisis for decades. That is, the federal government is failing to meet its housing obligations to first nations. As the Auditor General points out, Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the two government organizations responsible for first nations housing, have made no meaningful improvement in first nations housing conditions since 2015.
The Auditor General's report has made it clear that the Government of Canada is falling short on its own deadline to close the gap by 2030. First nations deserve more than failed promises. Just recently, I was interviewed by APTN, and they asked me about the federal budget and the Auditor General's report. They said, “Chief Mitchell, what's the likelihood of closing the gap by 2030?” I said, “It's not going to happen. It can't happen.” In fact, what I said—and I'll share it with you—was that my view is that by 2030 the gap will widen.
We have a lot of work to do.
The Auditor General's report really claims that the solution begins with dedicated long-term funding investments for first nations housing, which budget 2024 has failed to provide. I restated my concerns and opinions again in a press conference held here on Parliament Hill, together with National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and some other chiefs, right after the budget announcement, of course, and the commentary by the Auditor General.
This is a tough situation that we face.
The AFN collaborated with industry experts and over 400 first nations to co-develop a landmark report alongside Indigenous Services Canada that estimates the national capital and operational investments needed from the Government of Canada to fulfill its mandate to close the first nations infrastructure gap by 2030. There was a lot of work done in preparing the report on where we are.
How are we going to get there by 2030? Again, my view is that we're not going to get there. Specifically, in terms of housing in first nations communities, the report points to a gap of $135 billion based on data in 2023. Again, the gap will only continue to grow until decisive investments are made.
Better housing enables access to employment, wealth and positive physical and mental health. I'm a big believer in the education of our young people in our communities, not only in Newfoundland and Labrador but across the country. Having better housing may result or could result in a better outcome. Young people have a better opportunity to become educated and to create opportunities for themselves and, eventually, their families.
The opposite of doing that, of course, is the situation we find today. Many young people are leaving their communities and their homes because they don't like the housing situation they face or they don't like the community situation they're involved in. Where do they end up? They end up in our larger urban centres, often on the street, homeless, in trouble and sometimes incarcerated, and yes, sometimes the ultimate situation they face is death.
Personally, I believe that having a solid home base with cultural, physical and financial supports is where we need to be in this country to change the situation that we have with young indigenous people today. We get some of this through better housing.
The Auditor General's report called for a fundamental shift in how federal programs and policies are developed. This shift is urgently needed to drive significant progress, meaning that federal housing policies must be fully co-developed with the AFN and first nations.
Federal budget 2024 fell short of addressing the urgent and long-term needs of first nations in Canada.
I recognize that investments have been made in the last few years toward closing the socio-economic gap between first nations and the rest of Canada. Gaps still persist and are widening in critical areas like housing and infrastructure.
