Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the invitation to address this committee. We're pleased to provide some information that may assist you and your committee in the study of skills development in remote communities.
Unfortunately, my notes are in English only. Having said that, I would be happy—and hopefully able—to answer questions in Canada's both official languages.
My name is Allan Clarke and I'm the director general of policy and coordination in the lands and economic development sector of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. I'm here today with Sheilagh Murphy, who's the director general of the social policy and programs branch.
Today I'd like to offer an overview of the work we are doing to help promote the participation of aboriginal Canadians in the economy, with a particular emphasis on first nations remote communities. There are a number of conditions that suggest that aboriginal Canadians have an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to Canada's economy. The aboriginal population is the fastest-growing and youngest segment of the Canadian population, and with more than 400,000 aboriginal youth projected to enter the labour market by 2020, the aboriginal population is poised to meet Canada's future labour market needs.
Increased labour force participation by aboriginal Canadians will be integral to supporting Canada's long-term economic growth and prosperity. In fact a recent study by TD Economics estimated that by 2016 the combined income of aboriginal households, business, and government sectors could reach $32 billion. This amount compares to the present income estimate of $24 billion this year.
An already sizeable aboriginal land base is growing significantly with the settlement of both comprehensive and specific claims. First nations now control or own over 15 million hectares of land. Inuit own or control over 45 million hectares of land. This growing economic base, if activated, will make an important contribution to both national and regional economies.
The non-aboriginal private sector is also increasingly recognizing the tremendous economic potential of aboriginal Canadians. Many of the largest resource development projects under way in this country feature partnerships with aboriginal groups. Aboriginal leadership is increasingly business-oriented and sees economic development as a means to greater reliance and independence.
Despite these emerging trends and new factors, the economic outcomes of aboriginal Canadians continue to lag behind those of non-aboriginal Canadians. Today, 66% of aboriginal Canadians hold a degree, certificate, or diploma, whereas 85% of non-aboriginal Canadians hold a degree, certificate, or diploma.
Aboriginal Canadians on average have higher unemployment rates and lower individual incomes. As a result, more than twice as many aboriginal Canadians as non-aboriginal Canadians live in poverty.
Outcomes also vary according to identity group, gender, and location. Aboriginal women have higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than do their male counterparts. On-reserve income assistance dependency is 36%, compared to 5% nationally for the rest of Canada. Remote communities face particular challenges to market access, high costs of doing business, and deficiencies in infrastructure.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce report, which inspired in part your committee's study looking at these issues, identified 22 recommendations for the federal government, organized around six main areas: examining new partnership opportunities with the private sector, ensuring training and skills development are flexible and responsive to market needs, reducing regulatory red tape, rethinking approaches to infrastructure procurement, supporting value-added process manufacturing, and providing small business and entrepreneurs with the tools needed to establish and grow businesses.
The tenor of these recommendations is well aligned with the federal approach to supporting aboriginal economic development across Canada. In 2009 a new federal framework for aboriginal economic development was released. It reflects the real, significant, and growing opportunities for aboriginal people to take an unprecedented step forward to becoming full participants in the economy as entrepreneurs, employees, and employers.
The framework of the whole-of-government approach to economic development has five strategic priorities: strengthening aboriginal entrepreneurship; developing aboriginal human capital; enhancing the value of aboriginal assets; forging new and effective partnerships; and focusing the role of the federal government.
The Department of Aboriginal Affairs has worked closely with HRSDC as well as with other federal and non-federal partners in the private sector to ensure that investments are targeted to support economic development, education and skills development, and growth. Aboriginal Affairs and HRSDC are modernizing our respective programming as a first step to supporting the full, effective, and whole-of-government implementation of the framework.
Recognizing that the federal government does not hold all the levers to economic development, we have focused on forging new and effective partnerships with the private sector and communities to identify emerging opportunities and to develop strategies to unlock these opportunities to support economic development. This has included recent federal investments and the development of new partnerships and opportunities such as the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario; the creation of the First Nations Power Authority of Saskatchewan; sustainable energy initiatives for remote diesel-reliant communities in British Columbia and northern Ontario; and the diversification of the first nations fisheries in Atlantic Canada.
As part of the continuing and expanding implementation of the framework, we have also launched something called the strategic partnerships initiative. The strategic partnerships initiative is a federal horizontal initiative designed to increase economic development opportunities for aboriginal Canadians in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining, and energy through partnerships between federal and non-federal partners, ultimately with the goal of supporting greater participation of aboriginal people in the economy.
Through the strategic partnerships initiative and other framework activities, we are working on the development of more comprehensive and pragmatic labour market information and strategies in key resource sectors, and ensuring that new projects are undertaken with a view to ensuring that training activities are closely linked with the needs of communities and employers, as well as to alternative training platforms such as on-the-job training and mentoring.
The federal government has undertaken to work with communities and other partners to set the stage for success. For example, the strategic partnerships initiative has already been a catalyst for partnerships between the Matawa Tribal Council and a number of federal and Ontario provincial government departments and the private sector to support first nation participation in the Ring of Fire by helping first nations build or obtain the organizational and technical capacity to negotiate economic benefits from mineral development on their traditional territories, or to prepare for business, employment, and investment opportunities.
As part of the reforming first nation education initiative, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs is investing in establishing the foundation for long-term improvements in education. The Government of Canada, in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations, created a national panel on first nation elementary and secondary school education to lead an engagement process on the development of options, including legislation, to improve elementary and secondary education outcomes for first nation children who live on reserve. This panel recently held its last public engagement session and we are looking forward to its recommendations. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs is focusing on providing quality education where investments support initiatives that improve student outcomes.
We've also taken a number of steps to improve the regulatory environment on reserve, including steps to support first nations to undertake land, environment, and natural resource management activities as key services of a strong local government.
In recent years we have taken steps to make it easier for first nations to develop energy projects. Two years ago, for example, Parliament amended the Indian Oil and Gas Act. These amendments allow for an oil and natural gas management regime on reserve that is more transparent, efficient, and attractive to outside investors. To develop these amendments, the government followed a process similar to the one taken by this committee, listening carefully to the views of those involved. The Indian Resource Council, for instance, played a key role.
In addition to the Indian Oil and Gas Act, two important and complementary pieces of optional legislation are the First Nations Lands Management Act and the First Nations Oil and Gas and Moneys Management Act. Under these acts, a first nation can assume control of land, natural resources, and environmental management, including petroleum resources along with related resource revenues.
Another legislative tool that first nations can choose to use is the First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act. Mining regulations have been developed under this act that enable oil sands mining on Alberta reserves, which would otherwise not be possible. This act is also being used now to develop the regulations for the Haisla First Nation in B.C. to operate a liquefied natural gas plant.
Ali these legislative initiatives have been designed to provide flexibility to meet the unique needs of first nation communities.
The final point I'd like to address is consultation and accommodation. The crown has a legal duty to consult--and where appropriate, accommodate--when decisions to approve projects may adversely affect aboriginal and treaty rights. We have taken a number of steps to ensure this duty is fulfilled. A consolidated federal approach to consultation and accommodation is in place, for example, and over 1,800 federal officials have been trained to follow this approach.
We remain committed to ensuring that programming is flexible and responsive to the unique needs and circumstances of aboriginal Canadians, and that communities have the appropriate tools and supports to plan, prepare, and participate in opportunities, as well as the social and community infrastructure to engage and sustain economic growth.
The Government of Canada continues to take decisive steps to modernize its relationship and strengthen partnerships with aboriginal Canadians, and we continue to invest in self-reliance by focusing on opportunities and removing obstacles to aboriginal Canadians' full participation in the economy.
Thank you.