Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My understanding is that there would have to be another call, because they did meet what the requirement was for the number of masks. The other thing we've really seen as a helpful function, and we've been doing this with our partners at OSME, is to help businesses understand what happened with their initial bid.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's definitely broadband. I sit on a call every Sunday with about 60 women-owned businesses. Many of them are retail businesses, so they have a craft or a product and have pivoted to e-commerce. They've done really well, some of them, in pivoting and bringing their products together and curating indigenous gifts.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We definitely have heard from many members that access to Internet and stable Internet is an issue. It has been an issue for some time. It's not only communities that are quite rural. I'm from the same community as Dr. Restoule. I was quite impressed with her Internet today. When I work from Nipissing First Nation, it's difficult even to participate in virtual conversations like this.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We've definitely heard concern from our members in the tourism sector. That is one of the largest-growing industries in indigenous business. A lot of those businesses are young. We need to ensure that we're sustaining them in business through this period. I participated in the finance standing committee recently, where we talked quite a bit about tourism and the new changes to CEWS to help those businesses be able to sustain and continue in operations and be there next year when people are able travel.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It was only to say thank you for your time. Meegwetch.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Ojibwa] [English] As president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, I want to thank you, Mr. Chair and all distinguished members of the committee, for the opportunity to provide you with my statement and to answer any of your questions. Speaking to you from my home office, I acknowledge the land as the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We've done a few studies and some of our corporate members have done some studies on the impact of procurement from indigenous business on the neighbouring communities. Suncor, again, is an example. Based on their procurements—they're purchasing about $650 million from indigenous business—as well as Imperial Oil in the Fort McMurray region, the annual salary of people in Fort McKay First Nation region is closer to $75,000 a year versus the average salary in Alberta of $35,000 or $40,000 at the time of the study.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's incredibly important, not just on broadband, but also if there are business owners who have moved back into their homes and are over-crowded and if they're in an area where they don't have drinking water because there's a boil water advisory, and we're in a pandemic or moving out of a pandemic—potentially with the risk of a second wave—the indigenous people in those communities are at high risk.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. On the 5% procurement, we were very pleased to see that. As Pam mentioned, we did a research study, together with the federal government, looking at the potential of indigenous businesses in Canada to meet the federal procurement. It showed that indigenous businesses can currently meet 24% of the federal procurement on a yearly basis, so 5% is definitely a floor.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think originally we were advocating for the 5%. We specifically were saying 1% a year, and within five years we should definitely be able to get to 5%. We've seen corporations able to do that as well. It doesn't all have to be purchased directly from indigenous businesses, but there's an opportunity to require large contracts with corporate Canada to have a 5% indigenous-supplied provision within them as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I know that broadband infrastructure has been in the budget for the last two years, and we have been talking about ensuring that this commitment continues to be in the budget, but there's an opportunity to ramp it up. If there is a point where we're not back to the office or we're not travelling until there's a vaccine, that's going to put those indigenous businesses in rural and remote communities at a real disadvantage.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think there's a real opportunity for us to be able to see some of the retail businesses pivot to an e-commerce platform. Shopify has been a real support for indigenous business, but a lot of the businesses I've been speaking with, smaller indigenous-owned businesses, normally would sell their products at powwows or conferences, or potentially through stores, and they're really having to pivot to an online shopping experience.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We were quite pleased to see that announcement of the 5% procurement. We have had a procurement marketplace structure at CCAB for two years now. It's been used by corporate Canada and it's been very successful. The biggest thing there is that corporations are setting targets, and they're measuring against those targets.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. As Shannin said, the task force is working together. National business organizations understand what our businesses will be needing in order to recover. I am also involved in an indigenous economic response recovery group for the Province of Ontario as well, to look at how Ontario indigenous businesses can continue.