Thank you. Meegwetch.
As I said, I think that the supply council was an opportunity for us as an indigenous association—as well as for other minority associations—to have a voice at a table that maybe we don't always have the opportunity to have. That conversation did lead to the supply hub. I did find an opportunity.... When mentioning the indigenous businesses that could provide PPE, there was follow-up to ask who those businesses were, and there was a link to the supply hub to the list of businesses that can provide PPE.
That is definitely a step in the right direction. However, I do stress again that this needs to be a government-wide solution and a government-wide indigenous entrepreneurship strategy, not something that fits within one ministry. Within every program that comes out of ISED or NRCan, we need to be looking to ensure that those programs meet the needs of indigenous businesses and that indigenous businesses have the same opportunity to participate in those programs. That is something that we're pushing for very hard in our upcoming budget submission as well.
I think we also need to really look at the opportunity and the propensity of indigenous businesses to export, both generally in the U.S. and in Australia, as well as the opportunity for them to participate in export dialogues with their indigenous counterparts in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and across the globe.
