Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning to all the members of the committee.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before the committee. I am appearing as an individual, but also as vice president of Acosys Consulting Services, a company that provides services to indigenous organizations, communities and businesses. By the way, I want to say hello to my friend and the firm's president, David Acco.
We have been supporting a number of first nations councils in their management of the COVID-19 crisis for a few months already. During the first wave, we saw a fairly extraordinary reaction from various communities, which took the gravity of the pandemic very seriously and which, at the same time, embraced their responsibilities like true local governments. We have seen a number of communities adopt measures different from those adopted by governments and municipalities. For example, most Quebec first nations closed their borders much earlier than it was done elsewhere. We have also seen first nations keep some services and activities closed, while the province was announcing their reopening.
Therefore, during the second wave, we can expect those communities to reimplement stricter measures. They will obviously have to be supported by the federal government, through things like financial assistance, in accordance with their needs.
When I visited the committee last June, I talked to you about the Mi'kmaq nation of Gespeg, which had received very little government assistance because it is not a reserve as defined in the Indian Act. However, even if the first nation has no community to manage, its council still has responsibilities toward its members, just as other first nations governments do.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the Gespeg council has, therefore, adopted measures necessary to reducing the impact of the crisis on its members. Gespeg, like many other communities in a similar situation, has effectively found itself in a blind spot of assistance programs. That situation has still not changed. Clearly, programs must be adapted to better meet all the community needs in a fair manner for all indigenous citizens.
Where this hurt the most was in terms of economic impact. As in the case of many indigenous communities, Gespeg's economy is based on fishing and tourism, two sectors that have been hard hit by the pandemic and the lockdown measures. However, assistance is not arriving as it should be. That is what I would like to stress today because, during this second wave, the government will have to be even more mindful of the impact on economies in indigenous communities. Subsidies and financial support programs are not the only things being talked about when it comes to helping their economies.
There is another very simple way to help the communities' economies without it costing the government any money or hardly any money. It is simply a matter of ensuring that indigenous communities and businesses can benefit from their fair share of public contracts.
Acosys has the privilege of supporting the Indigenous Business COVID-19 Taskforce, which brings together the leaders of a number of national indigenous organizations: the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers, better known under its acronym CANDO; Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada; the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada; and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Businesses, known under its initialism CCAB. That team provides the Canadian government with advice and strategic input on two key topics.
First, it is a matter of identifying, engaging and....