Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It would be pre-Kelowna Accord. There was a lot of work done at the federal-provincial level. Leading up to that, there was a lot of work done by the AFN to bring together those opportunities. These relationships developed from there. Out of that Kelowna Accord, the relationship agreement that was done by the leadership in B.C. set the table for this enterprise.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I think one of the approaches would be much more regionalized support for pandemic planning, getting closer to communities and having this as a continuous focus. The other thing that's really important is that pandemic planning is also based on effective emergency planning; it's not independent from it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. I can start, and then I would offer the other witnesses the opportunity to comment as well. I think part of the opportunity is to make sure that first nations aren't caught in the jurisdictional gaps. I would say that's a big change. Actually, we're fully ingrained in both the federal and provincial processes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it was really tremendous leadership on the part of all three jurisdictions. In the case of the first nations leadership, the first key element was the unity of purpose. The organizations in B.C. came together and all agreed upon a certain approach. That unity was really vital to further the pursuit.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The only thing I would add is that many of the public health measures are enforced by bylaw officers. I would say that's also something that is not typically in place for first nations. There is a kind of double gap there. I wanted to add that to Charlene's comments. Shannon, do you have anything?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You'd have to go to other provinces where they have their own police forces for that. I have seen that some of them are quite effective, but it's not really our context here in B.C.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. It's “Mr.” Jock, but thank you. Generally through our tripartite arrangement, we have developed more mental health services and mental health action teams that are put in place across the province. We took over a system from the federal government that had many gaps, particularly between the federal and provincial systems.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. One of the things we observed and identified early on was that there was an important gap, particularly in terms of youth. I would say that as we look at adolescents and young adults, there's a real area of challenge, especially in a context where social distancing is important.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I would say two things. One, as Charlene has said, is that we have made sure there's a few weeks' supply of PPE. What we've done is develop a system of distribution and we make sure that we can replenish those supplies, but I would not want to say that there's a stockpile or an accumulated surplus.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. We will provide a brief summary of the document we have provided which will give you greater context. We are, of course, very interested in questions. One of the things I want to focus on is that our response to the pandemic is characterized by our partnership with both the federal government and provincial government.