Thank you, Chair.
Welcome to all of you joining us here today.
Minister, we have heard repeatedly from indigenous groups that the majority of the money the government claims is going to indigenous companies is actually going to shell companies. We recently read in the news of a great example of this: the company owned by Randy Boissonnault, even though GHI was not listed in the indigenous business directory. You made mention of that, but your departmental officials know differently, I think. They agreed they are still eligible to receive funding from ISC.
We've also heard that there are few to no consequences for companies that pretend to be indigenous. I want to quote Shannin Metatawabin, the CEO of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association. He stated that there are very few penalties, and that “There need to be penalties, for sure.” He went on to say, “It's criminal behaviour to conduct fraud, so we have to take other steps and demonstrate to the world and to Canada that those actors who are engaging in this activity don't use this window and this program to access the federal government in a bad way.”
Do you agree that it's criminal behaviour and that there should be penalties?