Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being with us today.
It's often that I find myself in this committee present with two important facts. One is an audit that has very clearly demonstrated that there is a discrepancy between the kinds of outcomes that Canadians in urban centres often have in comparison with indigenous folks. These are massive. On this committee over the last two years, I've heard about clean water, missing and murdered indigenous persons, housing injustice and, today, the Internet. These are all reinforcing what I think the Auditor General must also see clearly, that there is a massive divide. There is a serious issue, a systemic issue, of how Canada has, for the better part of its history and it continues today, disenfranchised indigenous people from a type of justice.
With all due respect to the witnesses, the answers we've received today are very similar. To a question in my first round, I heard that 42.9% of first nations have access. Rather than hear an admittance that this is a massive failure and a red flag and a very serious discriminatory number, we heard heard that 12% was good enough. I beg to argue that we need to do far more. We need to change our perspective on these kinds of issues of equality.
To the Auditor General, what do you feel needs to be done? We're seeing a very dangerous trend. These divides are continuing—the digital divide, the urban-rural divide and the indigenous and non-indigenous divide.
Can you comment on that?