Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to appear on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations, Alberta Region, which is a regional advocacy body for 44 first nations in Alberta.
I first want to welcome you all to Alberta, the traditional territory of Treaty No. 6.
It is our position that for Canada to reach its full economic potential there first must be a recognition of where the wealth of this country comes from. When our people entered into treaties with the newcomers, we agreed to share the land to the “depth of a plow”—nothing underneath—yet we have not seen the sharing of the lands and resources in our traditional territories to the extent we had hoped.
While first nations do not currently share equally in the $22 billion per year that is produced annually in revenues for governments in Canada as calculated by Natural Resources Canada, there have been some bright spots.
This past April, the Government of Ontario signed a historic resource revenue-sharing agreement with 31 northern first nations. In fall 2019, these 31 partner first nations will receive 45% of the government revenues for forestry stumpage fees, 40% of the annual mining tax and 40% of royalties from active mines. This will increase to 45% for future mines in the areas covered by the agreement.
This type of government-to-government partnership needs to be expanded across the country and is an example of recognizing first nations' economic jurisdiction over their ancestral lands. Promoting these partnerships needs to be on the federal government's radar and shared widely across all provinces and territories.
For action the federal government can take now, the issue of federal procurement is one that requires immediate examination. J. P. Gladu, president of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, CCAB, has said that economic reconciliation occurs when aboriginal communities are no longer managing poverty but are managing wealth.
The CCAB has been a staunch supporter of making the federal procurement system more fair and proportionately inclusive of indigenous businesses. The CCAB found that in 2015 federal government procurement of goods and services totalled $20 billion. Of that total, $63 million on average annually went to aboriginal businesses. Indigenous peoples represent almost 5% of the population in Canada, yet our business and communities receive 0.32% of government procurement revenue. This has to change.
The federal government needs to immediately co-develop a strategy with first nations to set an indigenous business target for all federal government procurement. Through proportional allocation, we will see first nations businesses thrive. Our people are ready, they are able, they are qualified and they have the expertise to get these jobs done.
Addressing why first nations businesses are not receiving the same proportional share is a priority that this committee can move on. Barriers include obtaining capital and adding our businesses to the approved government vendors lists. Let us address those now.
Let's look beyond procurement. We also need to look at continuing to address the massive socio-economic gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards calculated that Canada would add over $36 billion in GDP by 2031 if we closed the gaps in indigenous education attainment, employment and income.
If you want to close that income gap and if you want to reduce poverty amongst our first nations people, you have to invest and fuel economic development for both on-reserve and off-reserve ventures led by first nations. Not only is there an economic argument for closing these gaps, there is also a moral imperative and an international requirement to do so.
Canada's commitment to implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the 17 sustainable development goals will be key not to just reducing poverty but to eliminating it. I encourage the committee to push for the agenda's full implementation. Again, continued and sustained investments will lead to successful first nations, which in turn will lead to a better Canada.
Let's not take our foot off the gas pedal when it comes to sustained investments in first nations education, housing, water, and economic development. Let's keep going down the road of economic reconciliation.
Thank you.