Thank you, Mr. Amos.
Thank you for having me here. I wish I was on this committee more. I'm the chair of the trade committee.
Minister, welcome, and with all the travels you've done over the years, you've probably visited most of the communities in Canada. You have come to many communities in my riding. I have the largest population in eastern Canada of first nations, and the largest community is Eskasoni. You're very well aware of Eskasoni. You visited there.
There are a couple of big success stories in our community, and one is the education part. We have one of the highest graduation rates, not only in first nations communities but in Nova Scotia, right in Eskasoni.
We see a situation in Eskasoni that we think creates an opportunity, and I'm asking you if you see this across the country. Many of the elderly people in that community would have gone to the residential schools. Housing has always been an issue, and we're getting better at it, but we see an opportunity coming out of that community, where the elderly people should probably be leaving those homes but staying in the community. Many went to the residential schools and do not want to leave the community for various reasons. They'll get flashbacks. The opportunity that they see is having assisted housing or places for them in these communities. I'm wondering if you see that in other communities across the country. They want to stay in these communities but have assisted living or whatever so they go from the family units to just up the road. They're in a unit where the family can see them and work with them, and the community can work there.
It's a general statement, but is it something that our government, a future government, should look at more? I think it would not only really help the family units in the communities, but also the whole truth and reconciliation part.