Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
To all the committee members, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today. I'm very pleased to speak to you about the support for indigenous communities, businesses and individuals through the second wave of COVID.
I want to say thank you again for inviting the MMF to speak to the committee on the COVID crisis gripping the world and our country, and in particular on its impact on the Manitoba Métis. I am here on behalf of our president, David Chartrand.
The Manitoba Métis government has been dedicated to providing supports to our citizens, families, workers and businesses as they try to cope with the hard impacts of COVID. The Government of Canada has heard our concerns, which President Chartrand expressed to you in his other appearances. We need to continue to work together to address the continued standing challenges.
We acknowledge Canada has responded quickly, meaningfully and in partnership with us to adjust the programs to allow our Métis government to deliver a flexible financial lifeline to our indigenous communities, businesses and individuals. This is especially important to recognize, as we have had no support from the Manitoba provincial government. We have been delivering food security income and other supports for many of our more vulnerable citizens, including our seniors, students, early learners and homeless.
These are difficult times we are facing here in Manitoba. We are deep into code red, with job losses, closures and significant COVID cases. We have lost loved ones here in the Métis community as a result of this pandemic. There is no doubt that Canada's indigenous support programs, in addition to its broader COVID-19 economic response plans, have helped with preventive measures to slow down the devastating impact on our communities. We are working to do all we can with these preventive measures to minimize the impacts.
At the same time, COVID has had a significant influence on our people, even before the onset of its second wave. Historically and in modern days, the Métis were and are well known as entrepreneurs and business-minded people. The concern for the future of this sector is significant. Many of our citizens are employed in the services and construction sectors. Their type of employment does not enable them to work from home. The lack of reliable and sufficient Internet bandwidth for both our rural and urban citizens, and in particular our entrepreneurs, creates further challenges during these unprecedented times.
Ensuring all criteria are met, we are dedicated to release the federal supports intended to provide flexible, immediate support. In Manitoba, we are in the depth of full closures of non-essential activities across the province. The funds being released through the Louis Riel Capital Corporation and our Metis Economic Development Fund are there to help those in the crisis we face now and to assist in reopening in a safe and responsible manner.
We currently have three COVID-19 Métis business support programs.
Our MMF COVID-19 economic response for entrepreneurs was an early and urgent response that was launched on March 23 and at that time disbursed over $650,000.
Our MMF COVID business support program was launched on November 3 and has provided $1.173 million approved to date, with applications approved in 72 hours and funds distributed within the week.
The Métis emergency business loan program has approved and disbursed over $4.3 million in financial supports to our businesses and entrepreneurs.
The COVID crisis has also exposed the particular vulnerability of our citizens and communities resulting from our long-standing exclusion from the federal health supports available to other indigenous peoples. While the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch branch of Indigenous Services Canada worked with first nations and Inuit to provide PPE and other forms of medical assistance, the Métis were left to fend for ourselves. While we are all now focused on the need to contain the second wave, we hope that as Canada tries to build resiliency with an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan, the impact that COVID is having on our people will figure in this plan.
. We believe an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan should incorporate the commitments made to us during the 2019 election campaign. Acting on these commitments will serve to stimulate economic activity and resolve long-standing inequities.
These include commitments by Canada to, first, close the infrastructure gap in Métis communities by 2030 through investments in critical health infrastructure, such as Métis Nation health hubs; second, to codevelop distinctions-based indigenous health legislation to ensure indigenous control over the development and delivery of services; third, to attain a 5% indigenous procurement target in federal spending; fourth, to establish a major projects benefit framework that will ensure that Métis communities benefit from major projects.
The federal government's budgets in 2018 and 2019 contained significant allocations over a 10-year period for Métis-specific programs and services, such as housing, early learning and child care, and post-secondary education. The MMF applauds this dedication to a government-to-government and nation-to-nation approach. Accelerating the release of the balance of this funding in a shorter time frame may also help to address long-standing needs and provide economic stimulus in our communities.