Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. McLeod. It's nice to see you again. Yes, it doesn't really matter where the money's coming from. I think what's really important is that it's a stream of money, because I don't know if paying a lump sum is the issue. There's probably not enough money to do it all

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Harold kind of touched on it. I was going to talk about the Clearwater deal. That was clearly innovative in terms of how that deal went through. It was a public company that ended up being a private company. It took some innovation and thi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There's been no push-back from our membership. They are directing us to do this and look at how we can build more infrastructure in our communities. How do we propose to make $25 billion? I mentioned that it was a billion. Through the power of leveraging, we have access to the c

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a very good question. Simply put, the barrier we hear all the time is that there's a lack of government transfer for that. There is no funding available. There's no revenue available. But we know that there is, because there's $2 billion in there. You're building it slowly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. My name is Ernie Daniels and I am the president and CEO of the First Nations Finance Authority. I am a member of the Salt River First Nation in the Northwest Territories. I'd like to thank Leane Walsh and her team at CIRNAC, the First Nations Tax Commission a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Vidal. We really believe that the monetization of government transfers, be it a new source of funding or an existing source of funding, will really be a big game-changer when it comes to closing this infrastructure gap. I actually became aware of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I would agree with that. The concept of time and money is that it only goes one way. The value of your dollar goes down every single year.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The challenge is that the social problems still exist. Overcrowding in homes creates a multitude of problems. The social problems are still there and will still continue. The population growth in our communities is growing faster than the Canadian average, so that problem is not

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. It's a really good question. I think it fits, because all the amendments that are part of Bill C-45 have a direct impact on first nations communities, especially services to communities. We would hope that infrastructure, especially with the First N

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a good question again. There was availability in part of the existing legislation to develop a regulation for self-governing first nations. This work is actually going on right now. I think we're getting closer to having that completed. That regulation, I believe, is in s

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a good question. Believe it or not, in this day and age, with this legislation getting royal assent in 2005, there are still some first nations that are not aware of what we do under the act. Other than that, there are first nations that feel they don't have the revenues o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe there will be an opportunity to open up more to other indigenous groups, such as Inuit and Métis. I think that's the next logical step in this. Right now, I do believe that getting the not-for-profit organizations that are providing services to communities will definite

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's very good question again. I think that when we start amendments, it takes a lot of time and effort to get things moving forward. We would like to see the eligibility expanded to Inuit and Métis, but we have to work with our counterparts at the federal government, which i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. First of all, the act is a voluntary act. Those organizations would request to work under the act. With regard to competition or more lending groups, I would imagine you're talking about sharing the pie. I always go back to letting the choice be wi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I could add—