Mr. Speaker, Regional Chief Ghislain Picard said he was extremely disappointed that the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development did not attend the aboriginal forum in Mashteuiatsh today because forum organizers had scheduled a workshop about social housing on reserves, an issue that falls exclusively under the federal government's jurisdiction.
Can the minister explain why he did not attend the workshop given that, according to Chief Picard, Quebec reserves alone need over 10,000 housing units?