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Results: 76 - 90 of 262
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you.
I'll go over to you, Ms. Fox. I will let you comment on the Auditor General's comments right there. Rest assured that I believe 110% that your intentions are good and that you work, I'm sure, hours and hours to try to solve these issues, but I see a dissonance and I'm not sure why. Do you realize the issue here and why Canadians are concerned?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 12:05
Absolutely, I realize the issue. Absolutely, I am committed to it, and absolutely, the department is committed to it. There is no doubt.
The conversations that we are having with our partners and also with the OAG take very seriously the recommendations that they've brought to us and how it can help inform the way forward. We have a responsibility to do this well and over the long term, and this department's mandate is to actually transform all of our services into the leadership of indigenous communities. To do that, we have to get ourselves ready for that transformation and empower indigenous leaders to take on a system that is fully operational and running well.
There is no doubt that we are 100% committed to this. We have regular discussions with the partners within our team to make sure we are making progress, that we are working collectively to make a difference, that we are—
View Jean Yip Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for all your hard work on this topic. I always feel particularly saddened that our own indigenous communities do not have the same rights to safe drinking water as the rest of us, so this is important work.
My first question is to Ms. Hogan. It concerns your comments about feeling “disheartened” about these programs. What do you think is the most important recommendation?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:07
I want to tell you that all of our recommendations are important recommendations. I do think addressing the funding formula is a key one, being able to ensure that there's a stable base of funding not only for building the infrastructure but also for its operation and maintenance. You can have a state-of-the-art facility, but if you don't maintain it, eventually there's going to be a problem down the road. That operating and maintenance funding is linked to the ability of first nations communities to attract and retain trained and certified water system operators, and also to have a backup operator.
What we found in our audit is there were many systems—I think 26%—that lacked a trained and certified operator, and then 56% lacked a backup operator. Those are really fundamental to maintaining access to safe drinking water. If I had to pick one out of all of them, I would focus in on that funding formula to make sure that it's updated and meets the needs and new technologies that communities need.
View Jean Yip Profile
Lib. (ON)
Do you think that there are enough resources or thought put into having these maintenance contracts to ensure that these water operators will be there and be continually trained, and perhaps have outside support come as well to do more training and support?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:09
I believe that's why one of my comments earlier on was that until the funding formula is updated, it's difficult to determine if the additional commitment of funding will be sufficient to meet the current needs of the first nations communities. I think it's also something that will need to be monitored going forward. It's not going to be a one-and-done solution to make sure that the ongoing maintenance and operating funding is adjusted. Currently it's only adjusted for inflation, but not for other things, and that's why that funding formula update is pretty key to helping support the solution for this situation.
View Jean Yip Profile
Lib. (ON)
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:10
During our planning we did have some conversations with first nations communities. As we mentioned earlier, we try to always visit them, but because of the pandemic we were unable to do that. We have some difficulties trying to do so virtually with them, but it is always our objective to make sure that we consider the points and opinions of first nations communities whenever we do any audit work that affects them.
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:10
I think I'm going to ask Glenn Wheeler to talk about that since he would have been there from start to finish, and he'd be able to give you more details on it.
Glenn Wheeler
View Glenn Wheeler Profile
Glenn Wheeler
2021-04-29 12:10
No, we were unable to speak to individual first nations during this audit, as the Auditor General has mentioned. We typically do that, but the reality is that a lot of first nations were dealing with COVID and the impact of COVID during the time period of our audit and it didn't make sense for us to do that detailed work or consultation we would typically do with first nations. We did speak with the Assembly of First Nations, however, and some of their experts to get their views on water.
Glenn Wheeler
View Glenn Wheeler Profile
Glenn Wheeler
2021-04-29 12:11
It wasn't possible in this audit. However, when we did some earlier planning before COVID—we did long-term planning on where to focus future audit work—we did visit a number of first nations and their water treatment plants and spoke to their water treatment operators and their band managers to get a sense of what the issues were, but that was before we formally started this audit.
View Jean Yip Profile
Lib. (ON)
Ms. Fox, how many short-term water advisories are there, and how can the department prevent these short-term water advisories from becoming long-term ones?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 12:12
I was just looking at my chart. We've lifted 179 short-term advisories, and then I'm going to have to get you the precise number for the active ones. I don't want to mislead you. I'll get you the precise number of how many short-term are active right now.
Results: 76 - 90 of 262 | Page: 6 of 18

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