That's okay. So am I.
My name is Garima Dwivedi. I'm the director general of indigenous institutions and governance modernization at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. I can speak to division 10, clause 193.
I'd first like to acknowledge that I'm on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.
I'd also like to express my profound sadness at the horrific discoveries at the Tk'emlúps First Nation last week.
Clause 193 is an amendment to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act to remove a barrier that currently exists for first nations to use certain types of their own revenues, such as the first nations goods and services tax or the first nations sales tax, for loans under the First Nations Finance Authority. This amendment would enable first nations that choose to use these revenues to be able to secure capital to meet their communities' infrastructure or economic development needs.
The specific amendment proposed would provide an exemption to section 67 of the Financial Administration Act, which prevents the assignment of Crown debt as borrowing. Using these types of revenues for loans had been considered to constitute such an assignment of debt. The wording of the exemption was designed to parallel similar exemptions in other statutes.
Mr. Chair, would you be able to invite my colleagues, Ms. Leane Walsh and Mr. Jeffrey Clark, for support in responses to any questions? Thank you.