Yes.
Evidence of meeting #49 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
Evidence of meeting #49 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
In terms of banking services, what's the nearest bank you can go to? Is there one on-reserve?
2 p.m.
Director of Health, Medical Clinic/Pharmacy, As an Individual
No, there isn't. We go to Selkirk.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
It's about 25 kilometres away, or maybe a little further, maybe 50 kilometres away. I can take a look at the map to figure it out.
2 p.m.
Chief and Council, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation
It's not far. It's only 25 minutes.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
It's not that far.
Do you think there would be a market for—
2 p.m.
Chief and Council, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation
You also have to realize a lot of people don't have access to vehicles and are getting very limited. As many services as we can provide in the community would be an asset to them.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Would you be amenable to having a bank open its doors, having a physical bank presence here in the town?
2 p.m.
Liberal
2 p.m.
Chief and Council, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation
We're working on it, but yes, it's very hard to get them to come out and open a small bank.
2 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
We heard from the credit unions, I guess it was yesterday in Saskatchewan, wasn't it? They had a mobile bank that would go around to service rural communities. Is there something similar to service your community? Are you aware of anything like that?
I should get to the point. Would you use Canada Post as a bank if Canada Post had a bank and they operated a bank from the grocery store? Would you use those services?
2 p.m.
Chief and Council, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation
Absolutely. Definitely. As I said, a lot of people don't have access to vehicles, so it would be very convenient for them.
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Ashleigh, how do you do your banking? Do you do it on your phone, like I do?
2:05 p.m.
Manager, Entertainment Center, As an Individual
Do you mean personal banking?
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
It's on your phone. Do you need to go to your bank branch regularly, once a month, or occasionally? How important would it be to you, as a young person, to have physical banking services here in the community?
2:05 p.m.
Manager, Entertainment Center, As an Individual
Personally, I do everything from my phone. At work we have to use the bank. We have to use actual documents from the bank.
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Okay, so from a business perspective, for small businesses to start up in this area, it's important to have banking services.
2:05 p.m.
Chief and Council, Brokenhead Ojibway Nation
As well, in terms of access to cellphones, again, that's on and off. A lot of the older people don't have access to cellphones. It's just the young ones, like Ashleigh, who is employed, who are able to do those kinds of things. Then you're missing out on a huge sector; they don't have that convenience or can't afford it.
2:05 p.m.
Liberal
2:05 p.m.
Director of Health, Medical Clinic/Pharmacy, As an Individual
I was just going to say that yes, we young people use online banking.