Health committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to also appear before this committee on the critical issue of forced or coerced sterilization. I would also like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin people this afternoon. We're he

Health committee  From the federal-provincial-territorial relations piece, absolutely. Indigenous Services Canada, however, will lead in the partnership with indigenous women's organizations and communities.

Health committee  In terms of direct outreach to the individuals who are right now in the process of the class action, we've not. We would have an interaction from counsel to counsel. In terms of the ability of indigenous individuals to access support, we have a variety of mechanisms whereby firs

Health committee  Do you mean the indigenous women's well-being advisory group?

Health committee  The federal-provincial-territorial one.

Health committee  That would be the Department of Justice, and I don't have that confirmation.

Health committee  Again, the Saskatoon Health Region, which is under provincial jurisdiction, did the external review and would have the information around the physicians, the patients, and such. We were not directly involved in the external review process. I just want to clarify that.

Health committee  We're hearing reports through the press. I understand from Senator Boyer as well that she's been approached by various women. We've not had an opportunity to meet with Senator Boyer yet. We were scheduled to do so, and her schedule shifted. We are very much looking forward to tha

Health committee  The department, through counsel, is reviewing it through the Department of Justice.

Health committee  If you're interested in the specific legal proceedings, it would be better to have the Department of Justice here in order to discuss that.

Health committee  I do not, no.

Health committee  Again, without having direct interaction with those individuals, with their not coming forward to us specifically, I would say that we do have a variety of programs and services available for indigenous women with respect to mental health supports—and I named some of them earlier

Health committee  The initiatives we're here to speak to with respect to our mandates—my mandate being prevention and promotion of health and safety of first nations and Inuit, and I won't speak on behalf of my colleague's mandate—are really to address the issues in the health care system that are

Health committee  Go ahead, Abby.

Health committee  I don't have any knowledge of that.