Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. Just to give you a sense of context, we employ 862 nurses within Indigenous Services Canada. In addition to that, at this moment in time we have approximately 600 nurses and paramedics on our roster of contracted nurses. We use that roster in order to

Public Accounts committee  That's correct, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. Kwe kwe. Ullukkut. Tansi. Hello. I want to acknowledge that I'm on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin people. Thank you for inviting me to speak to our department's response to the Auditor General's report concerning health resources for indigen

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We then looked at how quickly the personal protection equipment was being used during the first year of the pandemic, and overall, we were satisfied that we had enough equipment from the Public Health Agency of Canada to meet the needs of communities. We m

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just on the monetization question, for instance, our first nations and Inuit health branch now has the authorities and program terms and conditions that would allow individual first nations to monetize long-term transfer payments with financial institutions. That includes with th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Another example that I would provide would be the list of indigenous businesses, which is a directory designed to support indigenous businesses in pursuing business opportunities with government. Back in 2018, there were 1,609 businesses; today there are over 2,400. So, slowly, t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have a number of programs that are really targeted at removing those barriers to economic development. There's the entrepreneurship program. We have a community opportunity readiness program, as well as the strategic partnerships initiative. We have a number of programs, reall

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. The minister and I were recently in a conversation with one of the chiefs around what self-determination can mean in terms of economic growth and employment. When the community in Whitecap, Saskatchewan, did their land code through a self-determination and self-govern

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and Minister. I think what I would say is that, yes, indeed those are the right numbers in terms of newly created businesses. Maybe for a bit of context in terms of COVID, 3,658 businesses received some of the funding for COVID supports. Many of th

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I can go next. Quickly I can say that we have both pockets of money available at Indigenous Services Canada. For instance, in budget 2021 we have a new investment of $4.3 billion, plus $1.7 billion for O and M. Similarly, on water investments, in the fall economic statem

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely. I would say it in the following way. What we're trying to achieve as a department is getting the right balance between a reporting structure that allows us to have that open and transparent approach, while understanding that there needs to be a balance, given the le

Public Accounts committee  We are constantly looking at better ways to be open and transparent, and the long-term drinking water advisory work, taking it community by community, is a good approach. We do that, as well, for our infrastructure funding. It's important to note that there is data around the mon

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I could speak a little about Indigenous Services Canada, to answer the question about why we aren't tracking legacy programs.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  Kwe kwe. Ulaakut. Tansi. Hello. Today I'm speaking to you from the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg people. I would like to begin by confirming that through the programs and investments administered through the investing in Canada plan, Indigenous Ser