Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 19th, 2020

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

You brought up tourism. Certainly, there hasn't been any with the roadblocks set up by the communities in order to protect themselves from COVID-19.

How did you help communities in that situation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Minister, you have 15 seconds.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

We took a number of steps, including investing $16 million to support 640 indigenous tourism businesses. That investment was aimed specifically at helping them through this period.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you.

Ms. Blaney, please go ahead for two and a half minutes.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I want to thank you, Minister, for committing to working with my office on this 25% gap. I'm really thankful for that. If our office can do anything, please let us know.

Minister, the last question I have for you this evening is based on what we heard in committee earlier this week. We were told by the aboriginal financial institutions and the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association that there was a certain level of frustration—extreme frustration, actually—because they had to wait two and a half months for the indigenous business programs to get set up, unlike the non-indigenous business programs such as the CEBA. One of their concerns now is that they still don't know if their members will qualify for the additional $20,000 that non-indigenous businesses are already getting through the CEBA.

The biggest concern for them is that this is an issue of economic justice. Indigenous communities have been working to build economies, as you know, for a very long time. Continuous provincial and federal legislation has historically barred them from being a part of the system. They are now making their way, and there's a lot of success, but with COVID and having to wait an extra two and a half months to access resources that other businesses were able to access, they lost businesses during that time.

Here's what they're wondering: Will their next rollout be two and a half months later than everybody else's?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

MP Blaney, I think you're absolutely right. A number of the instruments we deployed were very general and, absolutely, a number of mistakes were made in eligibility criteria on a number of fronts. We saw a number of these unduly prejudice the indigenous communities. Our teams worked really hard to work with the Minister of Finance at the time to plug those holes, and indeed it did take time.

We're all being asked to do things that fall outside of our authority, essentially to replace private actors in the economy and give those supports. Some of these did in fact need to be tailored. Some of the financial instruments have been distributed, and I think we've had about 1,100 loans go out.

Clearly the timeline was a challenge we faced, and as we fine-tune our response, I don't think—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We face it too.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Okay. I was going to conclude with something, but—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry for that.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

That's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We're racing toward your own deadline.

Mr. Vidal, go ahead for five minutes.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Minister, in what little time I have left, I want to talk about vaccines.

There is an awful lot of stress and anxiety in northern and remote communities, as you can imagine. I know you've been talking to these people, and we would agree that this is a huge concern.

Where am I going with this? I believe there's an opportunity for us to really give them some hope and share some optimism, and to give them a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

What's the plan for the rollout of vaccines? What's the access going to be like for these remote communities when that opportunity arises?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

This is an excellent question and one we're working on currently.

We've all seen the news stories about the positive results for two vaccines in particular, and the wide suite of access Canada has to other vaccines, but they have to be distributed in a way that reflects not only the needs of those in health care services and the prioritization to be established with respect to who gets them and when, but also what is perhaps one of the largest logistical challenges in vaccinations worldwide that we've ever faced. That's the reality. We're talking about ensuring that these vaccines are transported to all areas and then deployed in an equitable fashion that recognizes the inequality that we've all talked about at this committee. Certainly our team is working night and day to ensure that our approach ensures not only that the vaccines get into communities but also that they are deployed in an effective and culturally sensitive way.

We have have learned experience from the H1N1 vaccine and some of the challenges that were faced there. They were surmounted, and in fact I think testimony has shown that indigenous communities received a higher rate of vaccinations finally. There were some challenges in the beginning, and we don't want face those again, but we're very aware of them. We're working not only with local leadership but also with health authorities to ensure that there is proper deployment of those vaccines in the way that I've described.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

I could go a little bit further, specifically in the context of some of the reports we're hearing about the extremely low temperatures at which the vaccines have to be maintained. Obviously that's a huge obstacle for fly-in communities.

Minister, can you or one of the officials flesh that out in a little more detail for me? Seriously, I want to make sure we have a plan and that we're offering these people the hope that they need to get through this.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I'll leave the last few words to Valerie.

[Valerie Gideon]

To be clear, the vaccine will be distributed through the provinces and territories. It will be done in partnership with the National Microbiology Laboratory and the Public Health Agency of Canada .

Our role will be to administer the vaccine or to fund communities to do it when it arrives at the community, but we're going to be leveraging the same supply chains and the same distribution mechanisms that the provinces and territories will be using for all of their citizens.

Work is already under way, and some information has been released on the approach that will be taken to prioritization. That is being developed at a federal-provincial-territorial level, with the expertise we're able to bring to the table.

I want to reassure you that we're not going to be treating the vaccine for indigenous peoples with a different supply mechanism that might be more vulnerable. We're going to be leveraging the provincial-territorial distribution mechanisms, and the National Microbiology Laboratory and the Public Health Agency will be instrumental in ensuring the provision of the proper supplies and equipment to support the integrity of the vaccine throughout the process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You have less than a minute, Gary.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Minister, I have one last quick question.

As I know you're aware, there's often a significant level of mistrust of institutions among some of our indigenous folks in their communities. With regard to the vaccine, is there any kind of strategy or planning for making sure that people with an inherent mistrust of the system, so to speak, will have the confidence they need to participate with the vaccine?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Minister, you have 30 seconds.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Absolutely. It's key not only for respecting the reality and the lived experience of indigenous people in the medical system but also in the effective deployment of the vaccine. These are issues that we've been working on internally and with leadership in the last little while. They remain to be perfected.

You spoke about hope, and I think people should be very hopeful, given the results that we've seen. However, we also have to maintain vigilance in ensuring that the public health guidelines are followed properly. That's something we need to continue to do.

This all has to be delivered, administered and worked on in partnership with first nations and indigenous communities, and we will do it. This includes many ways of doing it. I would be glad to come back to committee at a later time to discuss that in more detail.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry, but time has run out for this session.

Thank you so much, Minister and senior officials, for joining us.

We're going to suspend for a couple of minutes while we assemble our next panel with our ministers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I call this meeting back to order. As we resume the meeting, the committee is continuing to consider the supplementary estimates (B) for 2020-21.

With us for this hour, by video conference, is the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett; the Minister of Northern Affairs, Dan Vandal, accompanied by Daniel Quan-Watson, the deputy minister; the assistant deputy minister, Serge Beaudoin; the acting senior assistant deputy minister, Annie Boudreau; and the acting chief of finances, results and delivery officer Jean-François Talbot.

Ms. Bennett, welcome to our panel. Please go ahead for six minutes.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Thank you.

Kwe, bonsoir, good evening.

I am joining you today from my home in Toronto, on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We honour all of the indigenous peoples who paddled these waters and whose moccasins walked these lands. We honour all the traditional territories on which all are participating today, as we continue to work so hard to keep our families and communities safe.

It is always important for me to appear before this committee. I look forward to a discussion on the 2020–21 supplementary estimates (B) for Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

I am joined today by the deputy minister, Daniel Quan-Watson; acting senior deputy minister of policy and strategic direction, Annie Boudreau; assistant deputy minister of northern affairs, Serge Beaudoin; and the acting chief financial, results and delivery officer, Jean-François Talbot.

The 2020-21 supplementary estimates (B) reflect a net increase of $936 million, which includes $790 million of re-profiling funding, $138 million in new funding and $8 million of net transfers with other government departments. The total budgetary authorities for 2020-21 will be $6.7 billion.

These funds will contribute to our government's ongoing work to advance reconciliation with indigenous peoples and to support and accelerate first nations, Inuit and Métis in realizing their inherent right to self-determination.

Acknowledging the limited time for my remarks this evening, I would like to highlight some of the key initiatives outlined in these estimates, and I look forward to discussing the supplementary estimates (B) in more detail through your questions. We have also provided the committee with a deck that I think will be helpful in outlining all the initiatives in the supplementary estimates (B).

I would also like to highlight for the committee that the re-profiling of funds reflected in these estimates is, as I think we have talked about here at the committee before, a common management practice. As I noted for the committee in the past, these re-profilings reflect expenditures for which timing cannot be easily predicted and ensure that funds remain available in future years for their intended purposes.

As an example, the re-profiling of $760.1 million for the specific claims settlement fund requested through these supplementary estimates will preserve the total amount available in that fund for 2020-21 at approximately $1.86 billion. The specific claims settlement fund is the source of funds for compensation for both negotiated settlement agreements and financial awards made by the specific claims tribunal. Because the pace of negotiations is difficult to forecast, the fund was set up with the flexibility to transfer monies not spent in a particular year to a future year. The re-profiling of specific claims settlement funding between fiscal years is a normal occurrence that helps ensure the availability of funds needed for settlement compensation in the year in a timely way, as soon as the settlement is reached.

Supplementary estimates also identify $28.6 million to support recognition of indigenous rights and self-determination tables. These tables represent a new and flexible way to affirm the unique rights, needs and interests that matter most to indigenous communities. It acknowledges that different indigenous communities or groups may want to assert jurisdiction in different areas at their own pace or incrementally.

I am really proud to report there are now over 150 active negotiation tables in more than 500 communities, involving almost one million indigenous people, to support them in realizing their vision of self-determination. We know indigenous self-determination is the most effective way to support improving health and educational outcomes and unlocking the economic potential in indigenous communities.

Despite the current COVID-19 pandemic, negotiations with participating indigenous groups have continued through virtual means. I have even been able to sign agreements virtually. The $28.6 million requested through these estimates will ensure continued progress through these important discussions.

The supplementary estimates also include requests for funding to support a number of other initiatives, including further progress on the TRC calls to action; the development of a national action plan for missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse peoples; interest payments for the first nations with loans through the First Nations Finance Authority—that was the relief for that; the ratification of the Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement and funds to ensure that Canada can resolve outstanding litigation.

I urge the committee to vote in favour of these requests for essential funding and I look forward to your questions.

Meegwetch. Marsi. Nakurmiik. Thank you. Merci beaucoup.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you, Minister.

Next we have the Honourable Dan Vandal, the Minister of Northern Affairs, who is in Saint Boniface, apparently.

Dan, please go ahead.