Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My colleagues here have been travelling to various jurisdictions in order to ensure that this is prioritized.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll turn to my colleagues around emergency preparedness in a broader sense, but I'll just say that during COVID-19, it was incredible to see the innovation with respect to communications. We funded grassroots campaigns on vaccination, for example, and on protection of your elde

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would like to add a clarification about the Indigenous Community Support Fund, which my colleague Ms. Wilkinson mentioned. This fund, which supports communities in the context of COVID‑19, has really been a best practice for us. First, it was set up very quickly. Secondly, peop

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We cover those costs through reimbursement of claims that are submitted to us. We are hoping that all communities have been sending us all of their bills, so that we are able to get a good sense of how the expenditures are rising. It's important for us also for planning purposes

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Typically, reporting of programs in government has been indicators around outputs like the number of people who have been evacuated and the number of people who have been repatriated. We contribute to the annual report of the government in terms of how Indigenous Services Canada

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would say that for sure, our responsibilities in NWT are limited to the two on-reserve communities. I think these are Hay River and Salt River.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have a bilateral service agreement with the territorial government. It expires in March 2023. That's one area we need to look at, in terms of how to have first nations engaged in that process and in public safety. There would be other federal departments engaging more broadly

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As I mentioned earlier, in budget 2019 we were able to access a specific envelope for capacity enhancement, which was the first time we had the opportunity to do that. So far, we have those 196 emergency management coordinators who can act as that type of level of support in navi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. This is a core component of making sure mitigation plans are developed by communities. We support that process. I was referring to the program. We have one part of this program. Northern Affairs has another. It's the same type of program, but we fund it differe

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We certainly have been working with our regional offices and our headquarters on the management action plan. This is what you would have. What we tabled last Friday was the first version. We are certainly looking at a more comprehensive approach. That has been a clear priority we

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Currently, there are eight agreements, including in Quebec. We are looking at the renewal of these agreements. We are involving the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador and its commissions in the process. We are meeting with those people every month to have discussion

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In budget 2019 we were able to access new funding, $43.6 million over five years, to specifically invest in capacity enhancement. The minister mentioned in her speech that we have 196 emergency—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do, in fact, work with first nations and listen to them in terms of their determination of their risk level. Also, we rely on first nations to also determine when their emergency plans are to be updated. The risk level informs funding decisions and our regional allocations of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We did not have documentation on every single community's risk level, because we work with specific communities in their identification of their risk level.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I will just add, though, that there is a strong desire by many first nations to be more involved in terms of hosting other communities during emergency events, instead of relying on municipalities, for reasons the committee heard and spoke about earlier.