Debates of May 13th, 2015

Indian Affairs and Northern Development--Main Estimates, 2015-2016

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, with all due respect, these matters are before the court. It would be improper to comment on matters before the court.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, may I ask how much the department has spent fighting these survivors in court?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I do not have the exact figure as to the legal costs incurred by Canada in this matter, but I can undertake to provide the hon. member with those numbers.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, does the minister truly believe that first nation kids are retiring at 18 years old to go on welfare, as he said in New Brunswick?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, in New Brunswick, I was was repeating a comment that the chief made to me. He was congratulating Canada on the measures we were taking with respect to income assistance. As members may know, two years ago this government introduced a $243 million initiative to help young members of first nations get into the labour market, with personalized skills training development, basic skills. As a result of this great initiative, which I know the NDP opposed, today we have a significant decline of young people who depend on income assistance because they are in the labour market.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a specific question about the department's criteria. Many aboriginal organizations across the country depend on funding allocated on the basis of criteria that the minister uses to recognize a representative aboriginal organization.

Where are those criteria published, and who made the decision to no longer recognize, for example—I am choosing an organization at random—Quebec Native Women?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, to be precise, the organization in question never submitted an application to the department for funding under the program we are talking about. That is a fact. It used to get funding from Canadian Heritage.

For the hon. member's information, the association in question was informed that it could submit an application under the existing program and that its application would be evaluated on the basis of the existing criteria.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, earlier he refused to call the missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls a national tragedy; he just called it an important question. What are the department's top priorities in addressing the root causes of violence against indigenous women?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, the hosts of programs being implemented by this department, by the Government of Canada and other departments all work in that direction. Whether it be education, or training, or skills development, or housing or child and family services, these are all programs we believe can help address this phenomenon, which is not acceptable to anybody.

The fact is that this government, the first one, to my recollection, has adopted an action plan to deal with the issue of missing aboriginal women.

I want to point out for the hon. member that all provinces, territories and national organizations at the round table agreed that the actions we had singled out would be the framework upon which we would be acting—

[The Assistant Deputy Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Order, please. The hon. member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, I know that the minister often refers to the Conservatives' action plan, but he never says that the action plan was not developed in partnership with the stakeholders. That is unfortunate, and it is why this will not work this time around.

Can the minister tell us how funding for shelters on reserve differs from funding for shelters off reserve?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I do not have information about communities off reserve, but I can tell the member that the 43 department-funded shelters provide service to some 68% of the aboriginal population on reserve. Once again this year, the main estimates clearly demonstrate that we will continue to support these shelters.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, could the minister tell us how many facilities offer second stage housing on reserve for indigenous women?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, would the member please accept my apologies and repeat his question?

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

The question was very simple, Mr. Chair. How many facilities offer second stage housing on reserve for indigenous women?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I do not have that information.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, what funding, in total, does the department provide for these facilities?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, I do not have that information. I do not have the cost of that facility.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will come back to some of the questions I asked before. When the department and the government continue to fight aboriginal rights in the courts, does the minister think this is in keeping with the honour to the Crown and the goal of reconciliation in our country?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, we are so committed to reconciliation that last July I announced a series of measures to improve the treaty-making process to ensure we could conclude a more comprehensive land claim agreement.

I have appointed a special representative to consult with stakeholders, with first nations, provinces and everybody interested in order to renew the comprehensive land claim policy, which I strongly believe can be done through reconciliation.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to ask a question also on missing and murdered aboriginal women and the need for a national public inquiry on this. Does the minister think it is not possible to do the action plan and the inquiry at the same time. Does one preclude the other?

[Bernard Valcourt, Conservative, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chair, as I indicated earlier, the position of the government is really clear, and it is one shared by many first nations and also victims of violence. We do not need more studies. We need action. That is what we have put forward and that is what we will act on going forward.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Chair, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak this evening to explain some of the impressive work our government is doing to drive economic development on reserve to my colleagues. When we talk about that, one of the biggest issues is access to capital. Right now our committee is in fact conducting a study on access to capital. We have heard some very interesting and impressive testimony to deal with some of the issues that are faced by first nations communities.

When we are talking about access to capital, we are talking about funding to start a small business or to expand a business, to perhaps purchase a family home, or to leverage real property and entice investors from off reserve. This remains an enormous problem due to section 89 of the Indian Act, which prevents fee simple ownership. Therefore, it really limits the use of property as a security when trying to negotiate that type of financing. That type of financing is critical for most businesses off reserve, the ability to leverage real property. This is essential for entrepreneurs, small business and really anyone who is seeking any amount of capital to start or expand a business.

Our government understands how this can limit the potential of first nations, so we are working with willing partners to try to find a solution to the problem.

One of the solutions we heard about a bit earlier was the First Nations Land Management Act. This is a great piece of opt-in legislation. It allows a participating first nation to actually opt out of 34 land-related sections of the Indian Act. It gives a first nation the ability to manage its lands and resources. It also gives it the ability to operate at the “speed of business”, a phrase we have heard many times. The inability to operate at the speed of business has been an incredible impediment to first nations communities.

Another important tool is the First Nations Fiscal Management Act. This is also opt-in legislation. This encourages first nations across Canada to establish property tax systems and strengthen fiscal management. It provides them with increased revenue raising tools, strong standards for accountability and access to capital markets available to other levels of governments. The act does this in three ways, through three aboriginal financial institutions: first, the First Nations Tax Commission; second, the Financial Management Board; and three, the First Nations Finance Authority. I will talk a bit about each.

The First Nations Tax Commission creates legal, administrative and infrastructure framework for first nations to establish property tax regimes. Property tax allows a first nations government to have a reliable stream of income that it can leverage into loans with other financial institutions to do all kinds of improvements on reserve.

The First Nations Financial Management Board certifies the financial management systems and performances of individual first nations. This ensures good governance and fiscal responsibility. It assists first nations in developing the capacity to meet their financial management requirements, provides the tools and guidance that will instill confidence in first nations financial management and reporting systems.

Finally, the First Nations Finance Authority issues bonds to borrowing first nations, secured by the revenue coming in from things like property tax and other revenues. The First Nations Finance Authority is a non-profit aboriginal government-owned and controlled institution built to provide all first nations and aboriginal governments, big or small, urban or remote, resource-rich or not, with the same finance instruments that other levels of government in Canada have at their disposal to build safe, healthy and prosperous communities. These bonds are sold on the market and provide participating first nations with an innovative way to access the capital required for economic development.

The First Nations Fiscal Management Act has been very successful, with strong and sustained demand from first nations to participate in the regime.

To build on this success, since 2007, the First Nations Financial Management Board, the First Nations Tax Commission and the First Nations Finance Authority have been working in concert with our government on a series of recommended changes to the act. These changes are designed to improve the legislation, reduce needless red tape and increase investor confidence. The overall goal is to improve the economic opportunities and well-being for first nations communities. In fact, we heard directly at committee during our study that changes were needed to make this operate more efficiently.

It makes me proud to say that Bill C-59, the budget implementation act, introduced on May 7, proposes 43 administrative and technical changes to the legislation. These changes would streamline participation in the regime by providing for first nations to be added by ministerial order rather than an order in council.

It would eliminate the duplication and needless red tape, and strengthen the confidence of capital markets and investors. For example, one proposed amendment would clarify that all certified first nations must remain in compliance with the certification requirements of the financial management board. This proposed legislation could have a significant and positive effect on first nations and I urge all hon. members to support it.

It is projected, and these projections are really quite exceptional, that if the act is amended as suggested, by 2020, a mere five years from now, 235 first nations will have opted into the regime, $70 million annually will be collected in property taxes, 100 first nations will have received certification from the First Nations Financial Management Board, and $1 billion in borrowing room will be available to borrowing members. This is the example of being able to leverage that revenue stream and turn it into funding for infrastructure projects on first nations reserves. This is an exceptional opportunity.

To date, the regime has been very successful and I welcome the opportunity for more first nations to become active participants. Demonstrating the potential advantages for first nations of this regime, in June of last year, 14 first nations from British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Ontario were part of the first nations finance authority's inaugural $90 million bond. The proceeds of this bond are being used for vital things, such as building roads, water, waste water systems, public buildings, as well as refinancing existing bank loans and economic opportunities both on and off reserve.

In fact, in some of the testimony heard at committee, this would allow a first nation community to save $140,000 a month, which is equivalent to building one house on reserve. The bond issuance was a significant achievement for first nations and the first nations finance authority.

Chief Terry Paul of the Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia, which raised $21 million through the bond, and the chair of the FNFA, stated:

Today, First Nations have made a significant step forward as economic equals with other governments. Over the long-term, this will have a profound and positive impact in our communities.

The first nations finance authority is currently working toward issuing its second bond, which it expects to exceed $100 million later this year. Access to capital is the key to unlocking the economic potential of our first nation communities.

I now have some questions.

On May 7, 2015, the government took, as I stated, another important step to promote prosperity in first nations communities and introduced Bill C-59, which includes a number of amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act. Earlier this year, the aboriginal affairs committee heard testimony from Manny Jules, Harold Calla and Ernie Daniels, all of whom had worked hard to identify ways that the act could be improved.

Could the parliamentary secretary share with the rest of the committee of the whole what the proposed amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act intend to achieve?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Chair, I would first like to thank the member for Brampton West for his work on the aboriginal affairs committee. He has certainly been a key member of the study on access to capital, using his vast experience in law to get to the heart of the issues and really lead the way for the Conservative side of the table as we have endeavoured to find out more about this important study.

Certainly, our government has taken significant steps to improve economic development opportunities for aboriginal communities to ensure they have the tools that they need to take advantage of all of the opportunities that Canada has to offer. As I have said before, the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, or FNFMA, has provided participating first nations with fiscal powers similar to those exercised by other governments in Canada.

The proposed amendments to the act would improve the overall efficiency, reduce needless red tape and facilitate access to the act, so that more first nations can opt in. The proposed amendments would further increase the effectiveness of the regime by facilitating first nation participation while enhancing the confidence of capital markets and investors.

We heard from Chief Manny Jules about the importance of getting these provisions passed through the House quickly and that is why I was so pleased to see these provisions in the budget implementation act. That is something we hope to pass through the House in short order.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, the committee is currently studying access to capital issues. One of the things we have heard over and over again is how important access to the FNMLA is for first nation communities. Of course, it allows them to opt out of 34 land-related sections in the Indian Act.

Budget 2015 actually earmarks additional funds for new entrants into FNMLA. Could the parliamentary secretary explain to us how important it is that there are additional funds for new entrants into the FNMLA?