Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
I'm really impressed, actually, because a lot of work has to be done collaboratively in order to achieve success in any partnership, in any kind of business venture, especially with government.
Government has taken the position that it wants to enhance prosperity throughout Canada, to support those in rural and remote communities and to ensure respect for truth and reconciliation and the independence of the indigenous community as we go forward. A lot has been done with respect to that.
I know that the opposition is making a lot of hay about a certain situation that may have arisen as a result of the growing pains of these processes, but they're essential for us to proceed in order to enhance success in our communities throughout Canada. In the past, even when the list was established, very little indigenous procurement, maybe only 1%, was happening. So much more has been achieved consequently throughout, and more has to be done.
Mr. Carignan, you made reference to capacity building and business acumen. That's what this is about. It's to provide a sufficient amount of resources to enable those skills, that training and that advancement to occur.
I've had some discussions with the folks from the First Nations Finance Authority. They're doing extraordinary work independently. They're sourcing capital. They're out in the marketplace. They're doing extraordinary things to provide the resources necessary for indigenous communities and businesses to succeed and partner with some of those major projects, especially projects of sovereignty, not just for the indigenous community but for Canada, especially in the far north and with mineral resources on your lands. We have to take precautions in order to protect all that independence.
I'm looking at what we're discussing today. I don't want to discuss indigeneity. It's up to the nations to determine who's in and who's out. There are lists that have been established. There are lists that are being used separately.
This is what I want to understand: How do we proceed in a way that enables greater success for you? Somewhere in here it discusses CCIB. You're registered in that. Tell me what the difference is in the process of being certified that way and then explain to the committee how you're dealing with it in the private sector outside of government procurement. That's also an opportunity for the indigenous community to proceed throughout Canada and North America—and the world, for that matter.
Can you answer on those two points, please?