Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll begin with a quote:
In 2011, at the end of her mandate as Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser summed up her impression of the government's actions after 10 years of audits and related recommendations on first nations issues with the word “unacceptable”. Five years later, my predecessor, Michael Ferguson, used the words “beyond unacceptable”.
We are now into decades of audits of programs and government commitments that have repeatedly failed to effectively serve Canada's indigenous peoples.
She said we have failed to serve Canada's indigenous peoples. She went on:
It is clear to me that strong words are not driving change. Concrete actions are needed to address these long-standing issues, and government needs to be held accountable.
Deputy minister, can you guess who said that?