Mr. Speaker, in committee, we heard from Ms. Wesley-Esquimaux of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who called out the minister’s comments that indigenous peoples were not ready for that money. She stated that the minister's comments were simply untrue, that they had been working for many years and that the government had been told time and time again that the need for action was urgent.
In echoing TRC commissioner Marie Wilson's comments last week, could the minister explain why it took the discovery of 215 children to elicit urgent action from the government?