Hon. Jean-Guy Dagenais: Minister, on June 7, 2022, at a meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, of which I am a member, I asked one of the senior officials from Indigenous Services Canada about the use of a $2.1-billion allocation for families and children under Jordan’s Principle. Philippe Thompson revealed at the time that your government had begun negotiations to award a contract to a third party to administer our tax dollars which have been allocated to Indigenous communities, but he refused to tell us who these negotiations were with.

As the minister responsible, can you tell us to whom this contract has been awarded or to whom it will be awarded? How much will it cost Canadians to have a third party administer this $2.1 billion? Finally, could you tell us what percentage of that money will go to these unnamed administrators rather than to Indigenous children?