Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We started working with Well Living House, with Dr. Janet Smylie, putting together a bit of our own national coalition of organizations that would be able to do the data collection. We have some follow-up calls in the coming days, also building on the work the Yellowhead Institute recently published on what they found by scrolling through obituaries and by talking to folks.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, it goes to that jurisdictional quagmire. National health policies for indigenous people are set at the federal level. A lot of the data collection is happening in hospitals or at the provincial level. What is collected doesn't truly reflect what, maybe, the national data needs are.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Maybe I could speak to what we're hearing nationally. I don't know if members from TASSC or Edith from Val-d'Or have any comments about what they're experiencing locally. We have heard that there are increases in calls to friendship centres for support with violence in the home.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll be quick with a little sneak peek on the policy paper we're going to be releasing. We say that first nations, Inuit and Métis living in urban settings have multiple, intersecting diversities that make up their identities. We are looking at when you're applying a distinctions-based lens you're not just looking at first nations, Métis, Inuit, you're looking at where they're geographically located and their residency, as well as a gendered lens, so looking at the effects on women, as well as two-spirit, LGBTQ+ individuals.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Maybe I could quickly add to that. Certainly, in the early days we did reach out to some of the staff of the coalition tables. In our conversations with Indigenous Services, we called for a mechanism to fund the urban coalition tables and friendship centres, recognizing that a lot of them work in partnership with each other to provide that community support.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Maybe Edith could speak a bit more to that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I could speak to that a little bit. Yes, you're right, and I know that many first nations, but not all of them, have extended the support funds that they've received to their off-reserve members, but I guess it goes again to what's available off reserve that they can access. I guess $100, $150, $200, or $75, whatever it is, is not going to go very far to buy groceries for a couple of weeks so you don't have to go as often, if there's any transportation, if they're still working, if there are children in the home.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I could jump in and start on that, and then hand it over to some of my colleagues. Hello, Jaime. It's good to see you. There are a few things. I think immediately once the pandemic was declared, friendship centres and their partner organizations leaped into action to ensure that the community was okay by finding out where people were and finding out what was needed.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just make one quick point on that. What we find is different from what first nations are able to offer. I can't make a blanket statement on that because there are some exceptions, but the friendship centres really have offered that culturally appropriate wraparound support.

Health committee  Thank you. That's a lot. This is what we've been hearing from the ground. Immediately, the staff of some of the friendship centres had to physically shut their doors, but a vast majority of the friendship centres stayed open in some respect. Even if their doors are physically closed, they are still receiving calls, still doing referrals, still doing outreach and still doing service delivery in some capacity.

Health committee  I'll just add quickly—

Health committee  I'll be very short. The only thing I want to add is that we are hearing that the workers and the volunteers at the friendship centres are also experiencing great mental health strain from feeling they're not doing enough and not meeting enough of the communities' needs. We've been trying to figure out how we support the front-line workers in dealing with their mental health in addition to community members' needs.

Health committee  I'm not clear on who that was directed to. I was going to respond on the mental health question, but I'll leave it to the chair.

Health committee  Sure. With regard to mental health, our national youth council has also identified that as a priority for youth across Canada. I would just say that for health care in general, but especially for mental health care, availability within urban spaces doesn't always mean access for indigenous people, because it's the culturally safe environments that really foster well-being within our communities.