Finance committee  There are a whole bunch of issues, right? It goes back to previous comments. Significant percentages of these funds do oftentimes make their way to indigenous communities, but the gap is so large and, as you mentioned, if you don't make a meaningful change in the housing stock and the infrastructure that supports it, what happens is that you end up just patching over holes.

Finance committee  Yes. We have to remember that there are two different governments that are responsible for the housing. That's going to the Northwest Territories, which has its own responsibilities and its own significant housing deficits. It doesn't necessarily address any of the issues faced by the Tlicho government in their communities.

Finance committee  I think there is yet to be a full reckoning with the scale of the housing and infrastructure deficit in indigenous communities. As a result, the investments that are made don't start to put a dent in that deficit. As a result, the resources provided are often used up on temporary band-aid solutions that don't produce a meaningful result.

Finance committee  On the $1.5 billion, when it came to allocating funds to the Northwest Territories, no first nation communities in the Northwest Territories except for possibly the Hay River Reserve, were eligible for any of that money, so none of it ended up in indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories.

Finance committee  We're hopeful that it will, but again, it's going to be very difficult when you look at spreading that funding out over four years and across the country. Self-governing nations are prepared to have a shovel-ready kind of approach to addressing affordable housing in the 29 self-governing first nation communities.

Finance committee  Generally our experience is that programs that are developed by CMHC are designed for reserve circumstances. When we enter into comprehensive land claims and self-government agreements, we have a different legal structure and different arrangements. As a result, oftentimes the programs that are rolled out by CMHC may be very well designed for their intended audience, but they don't always fit for self-governing nations.