I've spoken to the deputy minister in the past, and she gave me the same response you're giving me now, that it's all of us. It's about partnership with indigenous people. Indigenous people need to be the ones to have the onus on them. It's indigenous people who need to come to the government. It's someone other than me.
Someone has to take accountability for this. I'm tired of coming here and asking the same question. It's like I'm talking to a wall or a room of nothing. Who is responsible?
I know the Auditor General made comments to us—which I can't directly cite in this meeting—along the lines of the involvement of politics in the system. I know from working in governments in the past, and on behalf of indigenous treaty governments as well, that the political short-sightedness of the government comes at the cost of the long-term stability of first nations. That is an issue, and it's something that Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations have never ever mentioned.
Although we know that this is the issue, we need the deputy ministers to act on behalf of Canadians and to demonstrate where the accountability is going wrong. We need to have tangible, concrete answers. Who is responsible? Is it the minister, yes or no?