Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for that question. I believe economic reconciliation is as simple as ensuring that indigenous people are part of the economy. We have faced many barriers, and we continue to face them even today. Access to capital is one of them. Having the right ecosystem t

Government Operations committee  Through our 35 years of providing entrepreneurs with access to capital, indigenous entrepreneurs have covered all industries. Over the last 35 years, we've seen more service-type businesses, for sure, because we're in the community. We're providing service-type businesses—contrac

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that. I think this is a historic time. In the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the declaration the government has supported and created legislation for, article 5 says that indigenous people are best placed to provide services to the

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. We're in the process right now of making sure that access to capital is something that indigenous entrepreneurs have. The organization I represent received $240 million 30 years ago and has recycled it 15 times to $3.3 billion in lending. They've ne

Government Operations committee  I think a good example is Supply Nation in Australia. They created an indigenous organization that has done exactly what we're promoting today: creating an indigenous procurement institute. In the first year, when they targeted 3%, they achieved 9%. They achieved higher targets w

Government Operations committee  I don't believe it has, no.

Government Operations committee  I think we have to recognize that Canada is very systemic in its exclusion of the indigenous community. As an example, today a building project in an indigenous community doesn't allow the indigenous community that has an economic corporation to even be eligible for that project,

Government Operations committee  The systemic barriers that indigenous people face start with legislation, the Indian Act. There is still an act called the Indian Act, which makes me a ward of the state. I'm not even my own person. I'm basically a child of the government. We don't own our own lands on our commun

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. Thirty-five years ago, the government recognized that indigenous people were not participating in the economy. One of the things they did is that they created a network of indigenous financial institutions on par with the Business Development Bank of Canada

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that. I'm glad you're spreading it around. I think what we want to recognize is that we're not trying to promote the continued use of a database that hasn't been successful over many decades. I think what we're trying to do is provide solutions for a better way for

Government Operations committee  [Witness spoke in Cree] [English] Waachi’ye. My name is Shannin Metatawabin. I'm the chief executive officer for the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association. I am also a member of the Peetabeck or Fort Albany First Nation of the Mushkegowuk nations. Thank you for

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. It's really important. We've had a couple of our members who have been delivering a housing program within their regions. They've delivered $30 million through their own efforts to raise capital within their regions. What we want to do is utilize the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would really like the committee to put that into their report. We're going to be presenting that concept to a director general's table looking at the same issues. We're going to present it to Indigenous Services Canada. The more support we have for it, the more likely it is tha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think what's important to understand is that with any sort of access to capital, you have enabling programs that support the deployment of that capital. What we need are innovative programs that support the movement of capital to the communities. In this case, we're trying to d