Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. I'll ask Mark to respond to your question because he was much more closely involved in the drafting of the report.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The only scenario under which the north would have been left out of our report would be if both departments did not include anything related to the north, which would be very surprising given that it's an important part of their mandate. If they did not include anything related

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We looked at the departmental funding and human resources at an aggregate level, so I cannot speak to whether they are properly resourced in specific areas such as self-government—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's quite clear that they cannot always deliver and use all of the funding they are being allocated, in good part, because it's difficult for them to recruit commensurately with the additional funding they're getting. As to whether or not they have recovered from previous expe

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Indigenous Services was created when the department formerly known as Aboriginal Affairs was split into two: Crown-Indigenous Relations on one hand and Indigenous Services on the other hand. That was also merged with the first nations and Inuit health branch at Health Canada, whi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's hard to tell, because ISC has seen a significant increase in its resources, as you mentioned, but the majority of departments have a similar record when it comes to meeting their targets on their departmental result indicators. It's a case where a department has benefited fr

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a reference to the fact that the departments had additional resources that were provided to them after they prepared and tabled their departmental plans. That's why they spent more than initially planned. As Mr. Aldag alluded to, it's through no misgiving and not anything

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I thought it had been mentioned somewhere in the report, but maybe it isn't. If it isn't, my apologies, but I thought we described the changes that took place in the one department that was then split into two and the merger of the first nations and Inuit health branch. Again, i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, as I mentioned before, I think the area of Indigenous Services is akin to running Canada's 11th province, depending on its size. We can argue about that, but it's providing the full gamut of programs to communities that are scattered across the country. Does that take time?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think I can dispute that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Definitely. That's why it's important to have indicators that can track progress over time; it's so Canadians can know the government is going in the right direction or the outcomes that are expected are being realized.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is an issue that we consider at the end of each fiscal year, or rather when the books for a fiscal year are provided to us. Every year, some departments, particularly those with large budgets, such as Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Indigenous Services

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. These are services often delivered by the communities themselves, and the departments have little influence over them. So achieving the department's objectives largely depends on delivery by third parties, the Indigenous communities. There are many of them and they are sprea

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To my knowledge, that's never happened. That information isn't available in the data we looked at either. The departments, which will likely be appearing later this week, would surely have more details on that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's difficult to determine exactly what explains that poor performance in maintaining the same performance targets. It could be changing priorities, so the departments being subject to priorities that change. If that's the case, they have to change the performance indicators the