Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses. This is obviously a very important study.
I love that you ended, Jennifer, with this having already saved lives.
I want to read into the record a few stats for people who are watching at home. We look at this red dress alert and the very shocking statistics on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
Between 2009 and 2021, the rate of homicide against first nations, Métis and Inuit women and girls was six times higher than the rate among non-indigenous counterparts. Eighty-one per cent were killed by someone they knew. Thirty-five per cent were killed by an intimate partner. Twenty-four per cent were killed by an acquaintance. Twenty-two per cent were killed by a family member. Eighty-six per cent were killed by an indigenous person.
Ironically, today the Auditor General released a report on indigenous housing. I think there's a real link when we look at all of these issues. There's been no meaningful improvement in housing conditions in first nations. From 2015 to 2022, the percentage of homes in first nations that needed to be replaced increased.
The other shocking one is mould. It's been a massive issue in first nations housing. Despite this, only one Indigenous Services Canada regional office collected the information. The 2008 mould strategy is no longer being used, with no reasoning as to why.
You can see there's been a real disconnect in terms of servicing these communities and what the stats say about the violence happening within them. We're not giving the support and resources needed.
Two things jumped out at me when you gave your testimony, Jennifer.
One, the government wasn't in charge of this app. I would be very curious to hear your thoughts on this. Would you like governments to be in control of the red dress alert system?