Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness spoke in Cree] [English] Members of the committee, friends and relatives, thank you for inviting me here today to share the perspectives of the Assembly of First Nations. I'm honoured to be on the unceded territory of Treaty 6. Before discussing the proposed legislati

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the things I've been advocating for in Alberta is to utilize our aboriginal...like the elders, the health professionals and those who work in the mental health field. There was a move towards virtual, providing mental health services online, but of course the issue is that

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. There are many great examples of virtual online learning for indigenous youth that were presented during COVID, but there's also on-the-land training, and resources were provided to some of the nations. In terms of opening up and moving forward in S

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Yes, it's unfortunate that the AGA has been cancelled this year. We've decided to move the decision-making and the resolutions we need to move forward to December, but in the meantime, as you said, we continue to advocate with government. We also continue to do some o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The national chief has been really pushing for UNDRIP to be legislated, and I believe that was a commitment from Minister Lametti in our recent conversation with him. Of course, UNDRIP supports first nations. It has the free, prior and informed consent. It's a great document to

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly. Own-source revenues are derived from the businesses that are owned by the nations or by individuals. In Alberta, we have five casinos that are first nations owned and they've generated a lot of revenue from that, so they were able to fund some of the deficits in the C

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Personally, in my relationship with the government, they've been very responsive. I've had direct contact with Minister Miller and Minister Blair. I guess the biggest issue is the lack of involvement of first nations at the table when resources were being doled out

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The youth are very important to our society because they're going to be our next leaders. It's really important that we put measures in place that support them in sports, arts or whichever area they want to go into, even if it's leadership. I believe that the voices of youth are

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First nations have always participated in the economy. As a matter of fact, I believe we have over 40,000 businesses across Canada. In moving forward, we should be involved because we have a lot to contribute to society. The business leaders we have are fairly astute and can prov

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning. [Witness spoke in Cree] I thank you for the opportunity to address you from the heart of Treaty 6 territory. I represent a region fully encompassed by treaty numbers 6, 7 and 8. These treaties are more than just agreements between our nati

Finance committee  I think it would be better if the funding were to go directly to the nations or to the regions where there are institutions that actually provide resources, like Aboriginal Business Canada. A lot of first nations do access those institutions for funding. Of course, the funding th

Finance committee  As I said previously, when the funding comes to the regional level, it becomes harder to access. I believe the biggest obstacle is the bureaucracy—when there's funding available, you have to do the proposal, you submit the proposal and then there are more things you need to submi

Finance committee  Yes, it is, because with the businesses you don't go through that big bureaucracy. They're developing one-on-one relations. They build relations and have an understanding of what the first nation wants and the expectations of the company. It's easier to work through that. With th

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  We deal with both levels. When Ottawa has a pot of money it usually comes to the region, but it has a lot of expectations attached to it. When it comes to the region, even though they try to work with us to relieve some of those bureaucratic requirements, it still creates a lot o