Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 2nd, 2020

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, how am I doing for time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You're out of time, Marc. You have eight seconds, but I'll use the eight seconds.

I was at a ribbon-cutting at the Six Nations, the first indigenous-owned Tim Hortons in Ontario. Ted Nolan, the great hockey player, was one of the owners. That's your eight seconds.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

That's good.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

That brings us to Ms. Zann for five minutes.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Hello. It's great to see all your beautiful faces here. Thank you so much for coming and for presenting to us today. I'm coming to you from the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq here in Truro, Nova Scotia. I think it's wonderful that our first nations, indigenous, Innu people are forging ahead and making something of their own with businesses of all sorts.

My colleague talked about sports. I come from the world of arts and culture, with 30 years in theatre as a professional actor, singer, writer, director, producer, you name it. Many of my Mi'kmaq and other indigenous friends are in the acting profession. How much of the money to these different businesses is going towards the creative economy? For every $7 that's spent by government, there is a return of $11.

I would love to know from you, Mr. Daniels, what you are doing regarding the creative economy.

[Ernie Daniels]

In terms of what we do with our process, when a first nation borrows with us, they aren't actually determining for what purposes they would like to use the loan. It has to meet a certain program eligibility. It could be social development or economic development. A lot of the borrowers are looking at setting up community centres. In there they will host different types of creative things.

I spoke of my community, Salt River First Nation in the Northwest Territories. They recently built a beautiful complex that houses a lot of the traditional hand games. They are setting up to bring concerts into the community.

It was known as a place where musicians came from. I myself am a former musician. I played in a rock band for about 20 years.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

What did you play?

[Ernie Daniels]

I played drums.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Good for you. So you know how hard it can be to make a living as an artist.

[Ernie Daniels]

That's why I became a CPA.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

I have a lot of friends—Graham Greene, Billy Merasty, Glen Gould from Nova Scotia, and many actors from across Canada—who are indigenous and who are making a great living at it. I try to say to governments at all levels that we need to invest in the creative economy in order to have creative people be able to make a living at what they love and what they're good at—to tell our stories. What better way is there to tell our stories than through music and theatre and art and all of the above, right?

[Ernie Daniels]

Yes. Richard Van Camp is from my community.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Excellent.

Are there people who are putting money in and who are trying to invest in the creative economy and grow these businesses across Canada?

[Ernie Daniels]

It's not so much under the model we're working on, because we are trying to get first nations to get into managing wealth. Our communities need wealth, right?

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Right.

[Ernie Daniels]

We don't have enough in our communities.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

A television series would change that.

[Ernie Daniels]

Why, sure.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

It could be a television series or an animation series or a theatre series.

Mr. Lehr is nodding. Do you mind if I go to him now?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You have half a minute, Herb. Go ahead.

[Herbert Lehr]

Our communities are busy every summer doing cultural camps. We have lots of people who are great artists, who are perfect dancers, and who sing so beautifully. We just need the chance to get them out there, and that's the problem. Healthy communities are required. You need money to do things.

If we can get our $150 million over two years, we can do that and pursue that.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Good for you. You got it in again.

Thank you. Wela'lin.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks very much.

If we're dropping names, Robbie Robertson is from just up the road.

[Lenore Zann, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Well, there you go.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Ms. Michaud and Ms. McPherson are up next.

Ms. Michaud, you have two and a half minutes.