Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members.
My name is Lucie Perreault, and I'm the executive director of programs with the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, better known as FedNor.
I am pleased to join you here and respectfully acknowledge that we're on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.
I welcome the opportunity today to discuss how FedNor supports businesses through the various stages of the trade continuum. Our mandate is the promotion of economic growth and diversification and the creation of jobs and sustainable communities in northern Ontario.
Our region is home to roughly 856,000 residents, including 24% of the province's francophones. Northern Ontario is home to 105 first nations communities and 150 municipalities, the majority with a population of 2,000 or less. There are approximately 72,000 businesses across our region, most of which are small. Only 71 companies, or less than 0.001%, have more than 500 employees.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, exports in northern Ontario experienced a notable decline, with a $2.5-billion decrease observed between 2019 and 2020. However, by 2022, the region showcased its ability to recover, with export values surpassing prepandemic levels.
In 2022, the value of goods exported from northern Ontario was $11 billion, marking a substantial 45% increase over the previous years. This milestone represents the highest export value the region has seen in the past 12 years, highlighting a significant upturn and demonstrating northern Ontario's resilience and growth potential.
Some of northern Ontario's primary exports include manufacturing, mining, agriculture and forest products. Recognizing the potential for trade to increase employment and wealth, FedNor supports not-for-profit organizations. One example is MineConnect. MineConnect represents the mining supply and services sector of northern Ontario and helps businesses grow by improving access to trade and export-related information through services, website conferences and trade missions, for example.
FedNor has also funded the northern Ontario exports program through the City of Greater Sudbury, and in partnership with other communities in northern Ontario, including Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, it has supported 700 export-building initiatives. The program provides financial assistance and targeted training to help export-ready small and medium-sized businesses, industry associations and not-for-profit organizations from northern Ontario access new markets.
FedNor plays a key role in supporting marquee events, such as the Northern Ontario Mining Showcase at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's international convention. The event provides participating northern Ontario firms with an opportunity to network, make key connections and promote their products and services to an international market.
In addition to working with third party organizations to support the trade ecosystem, FedNor targets its support to help trade-oriented businesses directly with the adoption and adaptation of new innovative technologies that support scale-up, increased productivity and market expansion.
Since April 2019, FedNor has approved more than $29 million in support of 34 projects to help companies become more competitive in both domestic and global markets. SafeSight Exploration is an example that benefited from direct funding to commercialize innovative technology to increase its manufacturing capacity, enhance its productivity and increase its exports.
Another example is Beam Paint and Colour. It's an indigenous-owned company on Manitoulin Island that does watercolour paints. With the support it received, it expanded and purchased new equipment to increase productivity in order to meet domestic and international demand for their product.
As convenor and pathfinder, we assist communities to strengthen their position in the global supply chain. We work with federal partners such as Global Affairs Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Export Development Canada and the BDC in support of our efforts to grow northern Ontario exports.
Thank you.