Public Accounts committee  I appreciate that comment, because we try to strive toward consistently working with first nations in all matters relevant to them. Sometimes that's a little harder to do. Sometimes that takes more time, but it is so worth it, because in the end the outcomes are better. On this

Public Accounts committee  Thank you so much. When there is not a piece of paper that outlines the final agreement, ISC will still work with all the parties and provide funding to many of the jurisdictions. As I said, we're actively seeking partners, and we do find small wins. For instance, when a first n

Public Accounts committee  Yes, we do. As I mentioned, we have the agreement in British Columbia. It's complex, because there are many first nations in British Columbia. It took the active, driving push of the province, first nation organizations and the federal government to make that happen. We have bi

Public Accounts committee  I believe that's a question for me, Madam Chair. Before I get into that, I want to ask for clarification—maybe off-line—with respect to which community you're referring to about non-reimbursement. I'm happy to follow up on that. I completely agree with you that, as indigenous p

Public Accounts committee  The department—

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. I'll continue with my response. I was going to say that a lot of this—

Public Accounts committee  We're increasing some things, but I'm going to hand over to my colleague.

Public Accounts committee  Is it my turn now?

Public Accounts committee  On those particular projects, I can't speak to the regional variations that exist, but I would say as a starting point that I think we would certainly want and prefer to be funding all 112 of these projects. I'll explain this with some context, if I may. This department has a fi

Public Accounts committee  That's a great question. What can the department do? We ask ourselves that question a lot, and then we ask ourselves if we are making that decision unilaterally or making that decision with first nations. Certainly, when it comes to infrastructure funding, we try to work as clos

Public Accounts committee  I'm going to defer to Joanne or Kenza on that one, to speak directly to those particular communities.

Public Accounts committee  Is there a question there, sir?

Public Accounts committee  I believe that is directed at me, Madam Chair, so I will make an attempt to respond to that. I would take some exception to the words about having “blown off” those recommendations or that we have completely ignored them. As deputy head and primary accounting officer, I would sa

Public Accounts committee  Madam Chair, I am hoping through this particular meeting that we can demonstrate that we have in fact made progress. Through our deliberations and the responses we'll give, we will hope to prove to you differently, that in fact we are managing this as well as we can at this point

Public Accounts committee  Performance bonuses are not in my realm to talk about, Madam Chair. I would leave that to Treasury Board and others who make those decisions. That is beyond my decision. Thank you.