First, I'd like to say that Statistics Canada used to have an aboriginal liaison program for national aboriginal organizations. I'm not sure what level it's now at in terms of their personnel, but they would have a statistician assigned or available to national aboriginal organizations to help run data for us. I'm not sure if that program is still up and running. Having specific statistics run is challenging.
I think another thing that's challenging is that not everyone self-identifies, so there are not a lot of ethnic identity questions. We often get aboriginal statistics that are all grouped together and that aren't specific for first nations, Métis, and Inuit, so we wouldn't know that.
A lot of the work we do gauges the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours in the communities. When we do projects, we are convening an advisory committee to give us the best, on-the-ground knowledge they have that's specific to their needs and what they see every day.
There is only a one-time offer to be medevaced out of a community, if you're fleeing violence. As we know, someone fleeing a violent household could try to do so up to 19 tries. It has to be perfectly timed, which can be a big issue if there's not a safe shelter or safe housing available.
I don't know if I can illustrate this enough, but there's no physical building. There's no private housing market. You don't go home if there's no place for that type of shelter.