In the Northwest Territories, I believe that 60% of the population demographic are indigenous Canadians. When I say that one in six jobs in the north is provided by the mining industry, the vast majority of those jobs would be benefiting, directly or indirectly, indigenous communities whether they were working at the mine site or working in some sort of supply capacity, in an entrepreneurial capacity, servicing the mine in one of many respects.
How can we further benefit the government's indigenous reconciliation agenda?
I would suggest that growing the pie is probably the single most important component of achieving greater levels of indigenous economic reconciliation in the north. We have a fleet of mines right now, some of which are up for investment renewal decisions, others of which have determined what their closure date is going to be. There is a real opportunity to generate the next edition of mines in that pipeline, but there's also a potential cost of not doing so. The reversion of economic agency and independence of the territory onto Ottawa is something that I don't think anyone in the north wants to see. I don't think it's something that indigenous communities want to see either.