Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, could I go first?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the immediate impact on short-term loans is real, because commercial lending is now concerned about the cash flows that are flowing into first nations. This is why I mentioned the fact that in some of the analysis we're doing, we're starting to measure the own-source reve

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think much of the economic activity in the areas you described is among small businesses. Small business owners will be significantly impacted as a result of this because they're not able to financially withstand the long-term impact of COVID-19 because they don't have the bala

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I really appreciate the question, because we often don't understand what we mean by “social enterprise”. We look at Indian bands as orders of government, and we don't understand that as they realize their aboriginal rights and title, they become social enterprises. I think the ch

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. The financial management board was instrumental in supporting the creation of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, first nations that were interested in resource development, and as a result of that, we got a lot of insight into the potential economic impacts o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I do. Thank you. I think the fundamental challenge we face in our relationship with Canada is that we're seen as a program; we're not seen as a government. We're seen as part of a 12-year cash flow cycle. We need to get to the point where not only the departments that repo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. I'm an accountant by training, for those who don't know. I came back to my community in 1987 and realized that we were all about program management. We weren't dealing with anything else. We didn't have any capacity. We didn't have any revenue streams. We couldn't go

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I think too often we find ourselves saying that unless we get all 633 first nations on side, we can't do anything. I think we have to recognize that we have to move forward with those who have capacity and are willing to engage in the development of the capacity to mov

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I've actually spent some time in the Ring of Fire communities with The First Nations Major Projects Coalition, and some of those communities are part of this coalition. Part of the discussion that we've had was on decision-making around approvals and recognition of Mat

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think many of the programs that have been developed by the federal government are very positive. The challenge that we face is that they have excluded first nations individuals, businesses and governments. It only comes through a lot of persistence that we start to see some of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We don't know. There's no means for us to get access to that type of information.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are about 60 communities from Ontario to British Columbia that are now part of it, and it's starting to look at Atlantic Canada. The First Nations Major Projects Coalition responds to first nations' interests on projects. It has developed standards for environmental asses

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The difference between getting federal government support at a rate that can be secure from the capital markets with that government support and having to go to the commercial banking industry is so significant that many of these projects won't proceed, or there'll be no benefit