Transport committee  Let me just add something. One thing is that the basic infrastructure in any community allows opportunities for economic growth going forward. If you don't have clean water in a community, it is pretty hard to have other economic activities occur. The basic infrastructure being

Transport committee  Taking a look at any other municipality or province and territory—

Transport committee  However, it is through taxation, through their citizens who live in that area. First nations are in a different situation and I think there are a variety of measures going forward with Indigenous Services Canada and our counterparts in INAC, working with first nations to chart

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. If I understand correctly, let's be clear. There's a difference between the capacity to run the facility and to deliver the infrastructure, to manage a project, to actually—

Transport committee  Right. We are working with the first nations to build up those capacities to be able to do so—

Transport committee  There are responsibilities. They are the owners and they are the operators of that infrastructure, and they are responsible to make sure that infrastructure works appropriately. We support them—

Transport committee  As we've already mentioned, the demand exceeds the available funding, so yes, there are first nations that do not have access to funding given the priorities.

Transport committee  Thank you very much for the question. I don't have that data available, but I can get it for you.

Transport committee  That is one example of capacity funding that the department provides to first nation communities, because we completely agree that there is that need for capacity development in first nation communities. The circuit rider training program is one that we're quite proud of. It's

Transport committee  At this moment, I would say that we are working with the first nation communities and there is a good sense of what are the assets out there. That does vary across first nation communities as it does vary across communities across Canada in terms of their knowledge of the infrast

Transport committee  A variety of funding mechanisms are available to first nation communities. The gas tax fund is one you also mentioned. We're also working on the new fiscal relationship, which is a 10-year grant. At this stage of the game, I believe that around 83 first nation communities have op

Transport committee  Thank you very much for the question. There are just a few points to raise on this one. First of all, we do work very closely with first nation communities in terms of their plans. As was previously mentioned, the first nations infrastructure investment plan that is developed

Transport committee  The $30 million for the indigenous homes innovation initiative is separate from the funding that my colleague was talking about, the $416.6 million, or the $600 million in budget 2017 and confirmed in 2018. The innovation initiative is a competitive process, but the idea is to

Transport committee  Thank you. We do have a sense of the total scope of needs that are out there. For water, for example, there was a study done that pointed out a total need of about $3.6 billion. This was before the funding that came out in budgets 2016, 2017 and 2018, and that is proposed under

Transport committee  In terms of the housing side, it really depends on the first nation that is making the housing decision. We provide funding on an annual basis and through targeted funding to first nations for their housing needs. It is the first nations who make the decisions themselves in terms