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Results: 1 - 15 of 132
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
The boil water advisories continue to be a challenge for the federal government. Your government promised they would be dealt with a year ago. We are seeing more communities come onto boiled water advisories again.
On what day will we be out of the bush on that?
View Arnold Viersen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is this.
Mr. Miller, you recently unveiled a map on your department's website that identifies the indigenous communities that do not have access to clean drinking water. However, there is one indigenous community that does not appear on that map that also does not have clean drinking water, and that is Kitcisakik, which is in my riding.
Why is Kitcisakik invisible?
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-05-11 12:33
Thank you. I think the more transparent we are on those, the more communities will understand where we're heading with our projects overall.
Ms. Gillis, the example of the global positioning, the reporting to communities on specific projects and expanding that....
Finally, I'm going to go to Ms. Fox.
The reporting on the boil water advisories I always hold up as the example of good reporting on what projects are in place and what the next milestone is. Is that going to move into the financials as well?
View Kelly Block Profile
CPC (SK)
I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 28 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
The committee is meeting in public today and is being televised.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), the committee is meeting today to study “Report 3—Access to Safe Drinking Water in First Nations Communities—Indigenous Services Canada” of the 2021 reports 1 to 5 of the Auditor General of Canada.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. Therefore, members may be attending in person in the room or remotely by using the Zoom application. However, I understand that everyone is attending virtually today, so for those of you who are, I will just go through a few reminders.
Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either “Floor”, “English” or “French”. Before speaking, click on the microphone icon to activate your own mike. When you are done speaking, please put your mike on mute to minimize any interference. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the use of a headset with a boom microphone is mandatory for everyone participating remotely.
Should any technical challenges arise, please advise the chair. Please note that we may then need to suspend a few minutes, as we need to ensure that all members are able to participate fully.
If the members agree, I'd like to take about five minutes at the end of the meeting for a bit of committee business.
Now I'd like to welcome our witnesses. Joining us today from the Office of the Auditor General are Karen Hogan, Auditor General of Canada, and Glenn Wheeler, principal. From the Department of Indigenous Services, we have Christiane Fox, deputy minister; Joanne Wilkinson, senior assistant deputy minister, regional operations sector; Chad Westmacott, director general, community infrastructure branch; and Jennifer Esdaile, director, strategic water management.
I will now turn it over to Ms. Hogan for five minutes.
View Len Webber Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Absolutely, I can concur with Mr. Berthold on that. To get the information sooner would certainly help.
I thank Ms. Hogan and Ms. Fox for their presentations today.
Ms. Fox, you talked a bit about the budget, and that was something that I jumped into. I sifted through the budget and found that on page 265 it says there's “$1.7 billion over five years to cover operations and maintenance costs of on reserve community infrastructure in First Nations communities.” You mentioned the number of billions of dollars going into community infrastructure as well, but that could be a hockey arena or anything other than a water treatment facility.
Page 245 of the budget indicated “new investment of over $18 billion over the next five years, to improve the quality of life and create new opportunities for people living in Indigenous communities.” It also said, “These investments will support continued action on infrastructure”, and then mentions “and clean water”, which is nice to see in the document. On page 248, it says there's $125 million over four years, beginning next year, “to continue to support First Nations communities' reliable access to clean water and help ensure the safe delivery of health and social services on reserve.”
None of these three points that I bring up really specify what type of money is going directly into water and water treatment. Have you any idea of what money you're getting in this new budget that is targeted specifically for water and water treatment in indigenous first nation communities?
Thanks.
View Len Webber Profile
CPC (AB)
Great.
You mentioned that this is a huge amount of money, obviously. It's $4.2 billion. Do you think that is a sufficient amount of money to alleviate the problems in these first nations communities and reserves?
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-04-29 11:24
Thank you.
Perhaps Ms. Fox could complete her thought there. It's along the lines of some of the questioning I had as well.
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-04-29 11:25
Thank you.
You mentioned the women. Quite often in indigenous communities the women are the water watchers, the ones who take care of the water. It's important to have them involved, as well as the youth.
I'm thinking of a round table I had with some grand chiefs in my last term at the beginning of all this. I remember Chief Madahbee saying to us, “We need operating and maintenance.” There was another comment from another grand chief who said, “We're getting these systems given to us from Ottawa, but they're not the right systems. You're not listening to our elders. You're putting septic fields where we know there are flood plains. If you would work with us, we could tell you better solutions.” One treatment plant actually added contaminants to the water because it wasn't being maintained properly. That was one of the examples, so there's the whole training piece.
Could you comment, Ms. Fox, on the importance of nation-to-nation discussions, and how they're actually very practical in terms getting to the right solutions at the right time to serve the communities in the way they want to be served?
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-04-29 11:27
That is why our budgets are increasing as we find different needs, things that we maybe didn't consider, that they're bringing forward to us.
I wanted to touch on the band council resolutions. Band councils will come to us with resolutions, particularly during COVID, and say, “We really don't want you in our community. We'll tell you when you can come in.” That has limited some of our construction projects and changed some of our schedules.
Could you talk about the process of band councils giving us resolutions and how we're respecting those resolutions?
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-04-29 11:29
Okay, thanks.
I have quick one in terms of retaining the operators that we're training.
Up in the NAN at Sioux Lookout, they have been losing operators to the local paper mill, which was paying more money. What are we doing to try to retain operators?
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome to the witnesses.
Good morning, Ms. Hogan. It's always a pleasure to see you.
I have to tell you that, back in February, I almost felt sick when I read your report. I have that same feeling today; it came back as I listened to your opening statement. Your findings are appalling. Indigenous Services Canada is very slack, it would seem.
I won't beat around the bush. Instead, I will get straight to the point. Before we get into the details, I want to discuss some of your findings and recommendations. You pointed out that your office first conducted an audit on the specific issue of access to drinking water more than 15 years ago, back in 2005. The department has had time to get things ready. It's safe to say that the issue has been on your office's radar for almost 20 years.
My question is straightforward. Do you feel the department takes the role of the Office of the Auditor General seriously?
Do you think the department has a corporate culture of offering up mea culpas every five, 10 or 15 years? In other words, is it just riding out the storm, while carrying on business as usual until the auditor general's next report comes out?
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you for that clarification, Ms. Hogan.
I realize you can't speak as freely as I can about what is obvious to both of us, so I will rephrase my question.
Your office conducted an audit in 2005 and another one in 2011. You submitted a report this year. Yet again, you are disappointed with the lack of significant progress. It's clear that the department's actions do not necessarily live up to the promise the government made to first nations. Every single time, you have made clear and specific recommendations. Despite agreeing with those recommendations, the department has never managed to implement them once and for all.
I would be willing to accept the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse, but the government's commitment dates back to 2015. There was no pandemic then. I realize that it did slow things down, but it does not account for the extent of the failings identified in your report.
Mentally, do you feel assured that this is the last time you will have to prod the department like this, or is it a lost cause?
Your office produces reports, they end up on some shelf and you have to do it all over again every five, 10 or 15 years.
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