Thank you very much.
My name is Crystal Semaganis, and I'm a leader of the Ghost Warrior Society, which is a grassroots collective. I'm wearing this shirt for a reason, because it's indicative of Inuit, first nations and Métis. That is exactly who we represent.
My involvement in this committee came as a result of my dedication to stopping first nations, Métis and Inuit identity fraud. On the specific issue of indigenous procurement, what we are doing is trying to unravel centuries of colonial interference in who we are as a people. Some of those mechanisms and frameworks—whether they be the Indian Act legislation, procurement systems or programs meant to bridge gaps that currently exist for first nations, Métis and Inuit—are flawed. We are wading through a quagmire of historical exploitations, and they are crippling my people from a grassroots perspective.
There has been much talk of data. There is a data deficit on the impact of first nations, Métis and Inuit identity fraud on our people as we experience it in our day-to-day life. It is robbing us of opportunities, resource building, capacity building, true engagement and our true place in the economies—social and otherwise—of Canadian society. We are a very capable, intelligent, resourceful, beneficial and beautiful nation. We are the first peoples. We are the stewards of our resources and mother earth, and we are here to say, “Work with us when we tell you that this business is not representative of us.”
I'm here to tell you about CPAIN. That acronym stands for Corporations Posing as Indigenous Nations. We are doing data collection among our people on how this is impacting us. Of the top 10 indigenous businesses that have done procurement in recent years, the price tag for those that are fraudulently claiming indigenous identity in order to engage in that procurement is $2,610,800,000. That figure alone could have alleviated food insecurity in the north. It could have provided clean drinking water for every first nation, Métis and Inuit person who currently does not have it. It could have alleviated child welfare problems across this country.
When you have these kinds of price tags, you look. You study the data and present it. These are the real impacts on our people. You tell us these are the colonial mechanisms that will rule us, and you do not listen to us when we tell you that these people are not indigenous. This is an exploitation of billions of dollars, and you are robbing my people of our true place in this society. We are more than capable of being your equal partner, handling natural resources and being stewards of mother earth.
We are here to say, “Enough”. The Ghost Warrior Society is not going anywhere. We are going to continue our work, and we are going to continue these relationships and opportunities to educate on the real colonial violence that is first nations, Métis and Inuit identity fraud.
Thank you.