Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that a government with a $14 billion surplus is pilfering the money set aside to compensate victims of Indian residential schools so that it can cover the costs of other programs.
This is an insult to the survivors, as the government has already missed the deadline for the payments.
The government claimed that the funds came from reduced operating costs from the Indian residential schools trust. How can the government claim that the operating cost requirements have been reduced when there is a backlog of survivors waiting for compensation?