“A woman died because the government failed four times to arrange her medical travel. This budget does nothing to fix travel costs or doctor shortages in remote First Nations. High costs for housing, heat, and food are still hurting these communities. I want the government to admit its spending is not fixing these problems.”

“Mr. Speaker, Miranda Mamakwa died on September 8 due to complications from open-heart surgery because the Indigenous Services Canada non-insured health benefits program failed four times to organize her medical transportation to the south. She demanded justice in her final Facebook posts. Nothing in this budget addresses the excessive transportation costs or lack of doctors for remote communities that need basic health care. On top of housing, heating and grocery costs still being out of control, when will the Liberals realize that their aimless spending does nothing to address affordability and avoidable human costs forced on first nations?”

“This budget fails Indigenous people. Housing funds are frozen or cut. The money given works out to only three houses a year for each First Nation. That will not end homelessness as the Prime Minister promised.”

“Mr. Speaker, well, there is the real answer for Miranda’s family regarding this budget: rhetoric through numbers to cover up their failure. Details show NHIB is frozen or less than next fiscal, which means more status quo and failure. It gets worse. The Prime Minister promised to end homelessness in 10 years in this costly credit card budget, but the real number it does not tell us is that when we divide its allocation for housing over 600-plus first nations, it results in three houses per year for each first nation. Have these Liberals actually convinced themselves that three houses per year will end homelessness on first nations?”