Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the fact that the member ensured that we had this debate tonight, and I appreciate her work at INAN.
One thing I agree with 100% is that we need action, and I have given tangible solutions on what kind of action we could go with today, moving forward and talking to our ministers. I would also state that every single time we go forward on legislation or something else, there will always be communities that will say, “I was not consulted. I was not given the opportunity. I want to be able to share my experience.”
We can have a dual approach to putting forward tangible action, which $1.5 billion has gone into, and hearing from those first nations leaders with the tangible results going at the same time. This ensures not only that we are moving forward but also that we are hearing from the people we need to hear from. It is not a colonial approach; rather, it is one that comes from the grassroots communities. We are hearing from chiefs who are struggling with this issue every single day in their communities and are looking to us for help.