Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be here on traditional Algonquin territory. I am also pleased to speak in the House and respond to the question by the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
I want to assure all members of the House that we take allegations of this kind seriously. What the minister did, and did cautiously, was to open a process of dialogue with indigenous people and first nations to look at what real accountability and transparency should be between first nations governments and the Government of Canada.
Our government did not buy-in to the tactics of the former administration, which was a top-down approach of dealing with indigenous people and indigenous governments. We have chosen to take a different path and in doing so, we are also ensuring full accountability and transparency for first nations and all Canadians across the country.
INAC acted quickly, and this is just one example, in 2015 to initiate a forensic audit at the request of the chief and council of the Shuswap Indian band to investigate the possible misappropriation of funds in its community. Further audit work was completed in 2016. Following the disclosure of additional financial transactions, a summary of the findings of both audits was provided to the community in July, 2016. That is openness and transparency and that is the Government of Canada acting with first nations band councils when there are issues and problems that have to be confronted.
At that point, the department then turned over the results of the audit to the Kelowna detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The department has been in regular contact with the chief and with the RCMP during its investigation.
I want to be clear that members of the Shuswap nation and all Canadians can count on the Government of Canada's support for their communities. That is our job and we take that responsibility seriously.
We also understand and realize that accountability and transparency is important and therefore it is a priority. We also know we can only achieve this by working in full partnership with first nations leadership and organizations.
Before and after the election, first nations from coast to coast to coast were clear that top-down solutions did not work and they had never worked. We therefore remain committed to establishing a new fiscal relationship with first nations. That is why our government is engaging with their leadership and with communities to determine a way forward that is based on a renewed relationship and one that advances reconciliation and not top-down dictation. This means engaging first nation leadership face to face, but it also means that we are consulting on how to best support mutual transparency and accountability between first nations governments and the Government of Canada.
I would encourage and I ask all members in the House to support that process and to visit our website so they can learn more about those consultations and how they can participate in them.
I also want to assure the member, and all members, that the contribution agreements between our government and first nations are strong. We want to ensure that all funds are used as—