Evidence of meeting #5 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 businesses.
A video is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Sorry, what was the nature of the amendment to the act, Ms. Idlout?
NDP
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Yes, very much so, and very much aware of the activity that it's doing with indigenous communities across the country. Yes.
Deputy Executive Director, Corporation développement économique Nikanik
I don't think I'm familiar with that program. We are a small Atikamekw community, but I would like to get some information in order to find out more about it.
Liberal
Chairperson, National Indigenous Economic Development Board
Yes, I am familiar with that as well. Moving forward one of the things, as I mentioned, we plan to see, and hope for support for, is a national indigenous infrastructure institute that would work closely under this act and help with implementation with respect to indigenous peoples.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
That's your time, Ms. Idlout.
We'll start the second round.
I understand, Mr. Schmale, that you've agreed to let Mr. Powlowski go first because he has an airplane to catch. Is that correct?
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
That is correct, on the caveat that we do get our full time, that we're not cut off due to time.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Thank you. To the Conservatives, I really appreciate it.
I really did want to ask a question to Mr. Davis.
Do I have it right, you're from Labrador? If yes, which community?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Yes, I'm from Labrador. Happy Valley-Goose Bay is where I was born, my mom is from Cartwright and my father is from Rigolet, which is the Inuit community in Nunatsiavut.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
I want to get down to a granular level, because here we have lofty conversations, which is great, because we are the parliamentary committee and we talk about leveraging equity and procurement contracts and fiduciary duty, but for someone like me who is not an economist, sometimes it doesn't mean that much.
I want to ask about Labrador generally. If you can apply it to Nain, that would be great for me because I worked for three years in Nain. I thought Nain was a fantastic community. I really love Nain. I was a doctor there. But I know there wasn't a lot of economic prosperity in Nain. There wasn't a lot of business. There wasn't a lot of employment.
As our colleague on this panel from northern Quebec has said, the cost of everything up there is much higher. When I look at Labrador and all your communities that are scattered along the shore with no roads between them, and where the cost of everything is really high, I wonder how they can and would economically prosper.
Could you bring together all the things you've said about economic development and the barriers to economic development, and tell me about it in Labrador, specifically, if possible, in northern communities up at the top, Nain, Hopedale, Davis Inlet. What has gone right, what hasn't gone right, and what are your hopes? If you can't apply it up there, just tell me about the other communities in Labrador.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Thank you.
You can't get more granular than that to try to get right down at the community level, so I appreciate the question.
As you can imagine, there are over 50 Inuit communities across the country. All of them are isolated, except in the northern part of the Northwest Territories. Virtually all of them are on diesel with no access, for the most part—if you take out Tuktoyaktuk—or very limited access to road infrastructure and so on.
In terms of the business activity that we see for Inuit communities, it relies on whether there is going to be an application for federal contracts and federal procurement. In some instances there are, when you take into account some of the larger centres of Inuit communities across Inuit Nunangat, including Iqaluit, and even Nain, for that matter, where you do have a federal presence. The fact that we just won the north warning system contract is an example of being in the territory and the region and having that business opportunity and business success.
The other piece that is pretty critical is that element of infrastructure and the need for critical infrastructure. Despite the fact that we don't have roads that connect, we need that additional infrastructure around deepwater ports, as well as airlines and necessary airstrips to ensure that we have that flow of goods and services.
The Internet is becoming this ubiquitous thing around the world that so many of us take for granted, but for Inuit Nunangat, it's not a reality. Let's be honest, depending on the types of services or goods that you provide through indigenous business, the Internet can be critical. The pandemic demonstrated how this level of business activity can take place virtually anywhere. We can be sitting in our pajamas, ordering things and receiving them.
The fact that you don't have quality telecommunications and Internet, as Ms. Idlout was talking about earlier, something like that—even though it may sound a little lofty—would have a profound impact on individual small businesses and even the development of corporations in those particular regions.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
What is your number one ask economically for Labrador?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nunasi Corporation
Nunasi represents Nunavut, so I'm not necessarily here with a number one ask for Labrador, but for Inuit Nunangat, it's infrastructure. It's the critical investment in infrastructure, which so many Canadians take for granted.
Qujannamiik.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, Mr. Davis.
Thank you, Mr. Powlowski.
It's now the Conservatives for five minutes. Please go ahead, Mr. Shields.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that.
I appreciate the witnesses today.
Mr. Jourdain, you have thrown in the word “independence”. When you talked about bureaucracy, was the funding you received program-oriented?
Deputy Executive Director, Corporation développement économique Nikanik
Yes, we received funding through federal programming, in particular, for a major project. We were able to access funding for a sawmill that cost $3 million.
It's important to understand something, though. The amount of federal funding allocated to major projects in indigenous communities varies between $15 million and $20 million. There are more than 200 indigenous communities across Canada, so it's incredibly difficult to get a piece of that funding.
In the case of a project worth $10 million or $12 million, that's a lot of money. We don't have everything we need in our favour to be successful and obtain the necessary funding. That is why it's so important to help communities, not only by giving them financial support, but also by improving access to programs.
