Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Deputy Minister. If I may, Mr. Chair, I would add to the answer that churches had obligations to disclose documents in the context of the litigation that led to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Under that agreement, and with the legal power the government would have at this time to compel the Catholic Church to produce documents, would be to file a request for direction with the supervising court to compel the production of documents.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. The documents that were disclosed as part of the litigation were gathered, and under the settlement agreement, a lot of research was done both by the federal government and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Over five million documents were gathered and transferred to the NCTR.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is the power that we would have at this time under this settlement agreement, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Documents relating to Indian residential schools had to be disclosed, and if not all have been disclosed, that is the recourse that we would have.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As part of the implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, we established an all-party table involving the churches, and we have continued discussion with churches in the development of the response to calls to action 74 to 76. As part of these discussions, they have all indicated around the table that they are prepared to collaborate and share information in their archives.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. An email address was made public yesterday for where requests can be sent. We will engage with the requesters to discuss with them what they want to accomplish, to develop a plan and to determine the funding that will be provided.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This department did not have resources available explicitly for that type of work, where we put in place this program. As was indicated, we wanted to first deal with call to action 72 and engage on how best to address calls to action 74 to 76, which we have done. Now we are implementing it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Indeed we have not denied any request for funding. We are actually keeping track of the requests we have received in the last few days in particular, and we will follow up with the first nations, in addition, of course, to making the information available to present requests in the future.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Deputy. Indeed, we heard that this work is extremely complex and very difficult to do. Building relationships based on respect, trust and developing partnerships with communities will be paramount. Residential schools had students from multiple communities, as the deputy mentioned, so it will be important to be inclusive of all impacted communities.