Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for joining us here today. It is a very important discussion we're having. I think the discussion could probably carry on for a long time and go into different areas that need to be addressed.
Yesterday, I watched the news and I watched all the premiers from across the country get together and sit at a table with all the chairs behind it. Among the 13 premiers, I counted three indigenous premiers, which made me feel very good. I was very proud of that. In the Northwest Territories, the biggest employers in the private sector are indigenous companies, especially development corporations that work with the mines and other sectors. It's very important that we have this. However, I still have a lot of questions in my mind that I don't have answers for. I ask myself why we don't have more indigenous MPs. We need 100. You can bet the tone of indigenous issues would change if we had that many in the House.
We also have large economic projects across the country that neighbour indigenous communities, but indigenous people are not migrating to those areas to work. Why is that?
The biggest potential in the communities I represent—I mostly represent indigenous communities—is tourism. The potential for tourism is great in the Northwest Territories. We have pristine lands. We have people living in our communities who know the waters and lands, and they know how to hunt and fish. However, we don't have operators in our communities. There are very few indigenous operators.
I see Keith Henry is joining us today. Keith is also wearing another hat. He's here on behalf of the BC Métis Federation, but he's also the president of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada. I want to ask him if he could talk about some of the barriers to tourism and economic development he's observed for a while. I know Keith has been involved in tourism for a long time.
Could I ask you that question as a starting point?