Mr. Speaker, I would like to wish the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations a Happy Earth Day.
In relation to tourism, I was talking today to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, which represent 1,900 indigenous businesses, over 40,000 indigenous jobs and managed a budget of $20 million in the last fiscal year, which saved thousands of jobs. It was given $2.4 million in the budget, 3% of what it requested.
It was cited in a release today that the Indigenous Tourism Association was confused, troubled and disappointed with the federal budget announcement. In fact, it said, “this is yet another blow to preserving Indigenous languages, cultures and way of life.”
Is the parliamentary secretary going to go back to the finance minister and get the government to fix this oversight? There are thousands of indigenous jobs, critical jobs, especially in British Columbia in the Nuu-chah-nulth territory, which I represent. Will they fund this organization adequately so they can help be part of the critical recovery in the tourism sector, the hardest hit sector in our country?