Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Number one, I mentioned that most small Inuit businesses are home-based. If you recall, some of the loans that exist are tied to the amount of payroll. I think they have reduced the requirement to $20,000. Many small business owners do not take a salary. They pay themselves divi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can tell you that everyone is going bananas on this, especially folks who were not born and raised in the north and who are dying to get out. I think that's the real impact. It's really fostered a sort of panic in our communities. Air travel has virtually stopped. The Nunavut

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree with J.P. I think you need to back that up with financial resources for those people to participate. I can tell you that it wouldn't take much, really, for any group, such as the Inuit Business Council or others, to find members who would like to speak on behalf of these

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Our business community consists of mostly small entrepreneurs. That would be 20 businesses or less. They range from small convenience stores to small hotels to companies that bridge services like Canadian Tire in their communities. They would bring in most of the goods. There are

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Manny, the Inuit support UNDRIP 100%, and we echo those sentiments. I completely agree with JP. I think it's important that our communities be given the opportunity to bid on some of the work that's happening in our communities. It just makes sense. I think that's where we ask

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The PPE is certainly something we thought about in March. We don't have a McDonald's. We don't have the big chains that you would typically see in southern Canada. I think our chief medical health officer and his team have worked well with the national organizations to allow PPE

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have looked at the procurement. My comments earlier were that the procurement system is set up to favour the large companies, and I think it would be helpful to set up a regional procurement system that would allow for local and regional companies to bid on some of the work.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that's a good question. For us in the Arctic, the critical thing is looking at the procurement system that's currently in place. It often favours companies that are outside the north. We need to think about how we structure it so that it would take advantage of the loca

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I echo those comments. I think it's important to recognize that many of our communities rely on projects such as mining, especially in the north. Although we want to balance that with managing the environment, if those projects are put on hold or stopped, it would have disastrous

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Adam. I think those programs that were set up in response to, I guess, small business concerns would address about 75% of the council's issues. We still have some issues related to eligibility. As you know, in the north the challenge in smaller communities is having a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to speak. My name is Kirt Ejesiak. I'm with the Inuit Business Council of Nunavut. My background is in public policy. I've gone to the Kennedy School at Harvard. I've worked as a chief of staff for the Govern