Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and honourable committee members, for having me here today.
I want to begin by acknowledging that we are on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.
My name is George Lafond. I'm a citizen of the Saskatchewan Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Treaty No. 6 territory. I currently serve as an adviser to businesses, educational institutions and social and cultural organizations and I am known for successfully leading strategic initiatives requiring first nation engagement.
Previously I served two terms as the treaty commissioner of Saskatchewan, the first treaty Indian to serve in that role. I was appointed by the Harper government in 2012 and then reappointed in 2014. I served as a tribal vice-chief and then later as a tribal chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, a first among equals, with seven first nation chiefs and their diverse first nation communities.
My entire public service has been devoted to supporting reconciliation, wellness, economic development and innovation for my communities. Improving access and the quality of education for indigenous youth is what underpins all of my efforts, and this work is informed by my educational background and experiences as a public school teacher some 42 years ago.
In the education sector, I served as an adviser to three university presidents and also served as a university board governor. I advised them on how to ensure that indigenous students could be set up for success throughout not only their time in post-secondary education but also their future careers. It is in this role that I worked with the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, commonly referred to now as SIIT.
It was these public service roles that led me, in 2012, to be appointed by the Harper government as an expert to examine first nations education on reserve and to bring advice forward to address a new relationship between the federal government and first nation communities with respect to education. It was there that I witnessed the fact that first nations people were doing well in primary industries but were almost non-existent in the clean tech industry.
Since I was appointed to the board of SDTC in 2015 there has been a noticeable change in how this organization has modernized to better meet the needs of the markets and the Canadian clean-tech industry. It was paramount to ensure that indigenous communities were also factored into this equation, to determine how indigenous peoples could be set up with the proper skills and training needed to participate in this critical sector and also that this sector could respond to the unique needs of our communities.
Strides have been made over the last decade, but there's no denying that the clean sector and innovation agenda present an even steeper hill to climb given the lack of access to training and education for indigenous youth. Indigenous people are at risk of being excluded from innovation in Canada. We're under-represented in STEM, with Statistics Canada reporting that the total employment in this industry is less than 2.5% for indigenous persons with post-secondary training.
During my time on the SDTC board, I had conversations about this very issue with SDTC management and I advised organizations and post-secondary institutions of their obligations to ensure that indigenous youth did not miss out on the future of innovation.
In 2020, SDTC approved funding for a maker's lodge for SIIT, Canada's first innovative accelerator dedicated to educating and empowering grassroots indigenous entrepreneurs. This pilot project was done through the SDTC ecosystem funding stream, which encourages innovation and collaboration among diverse persons in the private sector, academia and not-for-profit organizations. This is a part of SDTC's mandate and a part of their contribution agreements.
I want to be clear. Although I spoke to SDTC about these important issues and about finding solutions to ensure indigenous participation and I introduced them to SIIT leadership, I was in no way part of the decision-making process with respect to funding the SIIT project. When SIIT entered conversations with SDTC, I proactively disclosed my conflict and recused myself from any and all discussions moving forward.
Following the RCGT report, I was made aware that SIIT mistakenly included my services as a part of their expenses under the guidelines of the SDTC project. This was an error. I immediately contacted SIIT, which promptly resubmitted their expense claims. I never received a payment from SIIT related to this project. My contract with SIIT is as adviser to the president and is unrelated to this project.
As I've said, I had spent years working in indigenous education and on improving outcomes for indigenous communities. Although I'm an adviser to the SIIT, this program has provided no personal benefit to me. However, it does have potential benefit for thousands of indigenous youth, giving them an opportunity to combine traditional knowledge with a new idea and to contribute to the innovation landscape of Canada.
As the committee does its study, I do not want this important work to be lost. It is important that, through the creation of innovation programs like this innovation accelerator, we help mentor indigenous leaders and entrepreneurs, and ensure that not just middle-class communities but all Canadians benefit from a meaningful contribution to a modern Canadian economy.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.