Evidence of meeting #112 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was tax.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Should the right to free, prior and informed consent be enhanced for First Nations?
Chair, Board of Directors, Tale’Awtxw Aboriginal Capital Corporation, National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association
Absolutely. It's a key part of reconciliation.
Quite frankly, for me, this is about respect. If you want to get consensus and build relationships, you have to get people involved as early as possible. If things are happening and moving very fast, the next thing you know is, “Oh, by the way, what do you guys think?” It will fall on its face because we feel disrespected when it happens. I can name many projects, multi-billion-dollar projects, that have fallen because they have not understood and followed that principle.
Free, prior and informed consent is definitely an important component of that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Patrick Weiler
Thank you very much, Mr. Lemire.
With that, we'll go to our last questioner here before we wrap up this panel.
Ms. Idlout, you have two and a half minutes.
NDP
Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU
[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]
Thank you, Chair.
My next question is for Matthew first. Then, Andrew, you may respond after that.
In your view, what should an economic reconciliation framework entail or include? How would an economic reconciliation framework address challenges such as access to capital? That affects economic development in first nations communities.
Vice-President, Research and Public Policy, Canadian Council for Indigenous Business
There are a number of priorities to address, with access to capital certainly being one of the most fundamental business supports. Another is the ability to help communities develop entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills, and the business literacy attached to that. There is also the ability to have control over our land decisions and the ability to add land into reserves, and streamlining the process attached to that.
I think those would be a number of the primary considerations.
Chair, Board of Directors, Tale’Awtxw Aboriginal Capital Corporation, National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association
Thank you for the question
Quite honestly, I live and breathe this stuff every day, and I think about it every day. I think about my grandparents, who were very close to me growing up, and what they were hoping for and wanting, and I see it here: This is what they were hoping for and wanting. The fact that I'm here at this table with you is just really amazing, and if they were here, they would just be in awe that this is where we're at.
What we have on the table, I believe, is a good start, and it is a relatively new concept. These are not concepts that they were sharing with me in that kind of language, but the ballpark idea of what they were wanting is there, which is that we have a rightful place in Canada, more than anything, with respect, and that the respect we have with each other is paramount, and that we'll work together to find a solution that's good for all of us.
To me, this is what this is about. I think that if we go back to our grandparents and ask what it was that they were wanting, it would be in that ballpark. Again, it's still a work-in-progress kind of thing.
The one qualifying thing that stands out for me, frankly, is closing the gap. I want to close the gap. We have to close the gap. All the solutions that have been done to date have not done so well on closing the gap. Only in the last couple of decades have we been starting to make some good headway on that, but we're still a far way away, and we have to keep doing this work until we get some numbers that are comparable to the mainstream. First nations and indigenous people across the country are still far behind in many different numbers. Let's start working to close the gap. It's about respect, remembering what we were taught and closing the gap.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Patrick Weiler
Thanks very much, Ms. Idlout. That concludes our panel.
I do want to especially thank our witnesses for being here and for their wise testimony for our study.
With that, we will suspend very briefly before we move into committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]