[Witness spoke in Kukwstétsemc and provided the following text:]
Weytkp Xwexw'eytep Tracy Antoine ren skwekwst.s.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Hello, everyone. My name is Tracy Antoine.
[English]
As vice-president for indigenous banking at RBC for the B.C. region, I thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today.
The housing crisis facing indigenous peoples is an issue of which I am acutely aware, both personally and professionally. At RBC, we see the effects of the housing crisis in many forms: on reserve, in remote communities and also in urban areas. We know, for example, that approximately 60% of first nations housing on reserve is in need of minor and major repair, with 10% needing complete replacement.
Overcrowding is a serious concern when talking of the residents' health on reserve. For this, we provide many housing alternatives, including an RBC housing program, the on-reserve housing loan program, which is a specific relationship between RBC and the first nations government. We also support all other funding housing opportunities through the ministerial loan guarantees offered by Indigenous Services Canada and CMHC for low-income affordable housing.
One of the big concerns RBC has is that low-income affordable housing creates a dependency cycle because of the lack of jobs. As previously noted by Clio, it is very evident that support of higher education to overcome the low incomes is cyclical when it comes to providing adequate housing. With housing, you also need infrastructure dollars. With the $30-billion infrastructure deficit currently held by the federal government and a 35,000-unit shortfall, it is hard for banks such RBC and others to come to the table and provide housing funding when there's no infrastructure to build on.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the serious concerns of the first nations leadership, which we communicate with on a regular basis. With regard to the overcrowded housing conditions, for RBC this is a crisis that we want to be at the table to help the government resolve through our financial services and our philanthropic investment programs that we currently offer, over and above all of the housing programs that we support and are available to the nations. Access to affordable financing for homes is a small yet important step toward eradicating this crisis, but it is definitely not the sole solution. As this is the fastest-growing demographic and an integral part of the future workforce of the nation, it is important to RBC to remain committed to further discussions specific to finding innovative solutions to overcome collateral security, which supports more capital projects and job creation.
Twenty-five years after publishing “The Cost of Doing Nothing”, we find that the agenda items have remained the same. This will [Technical difficulty—Editor] for us to be able to have future conversations and to have RBC work together as partners of change and implement long-term solutions. This will assist the first nations in Canada in meeting their goals and becoming prosperous and self-sustaining in the spirit of reconciliation.
Kuk sts elp.
Thank you.