Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I just mentioned a few of them a while ago in my opening remarks. You know, in P.E.I., the organization there helps the youth with housing. In the other maritime provinces, they have commercial fishing. The organizations that we have, they have communities in each of the province

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —for instance; I will be the first one to admit that. These are the people out there. These are the people on the ground. These are the people who the federal government, through CAP's help, should be reaching out to.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The only thing that I could add is that we have tried on numerous occasions to reach out to the federal government—to CIRNAC, to ISC—to try to increase the funding because the amount that CAP has received for its constituents across Canada is a slap in the face. After hours of di

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If nobody is answering could I just chime in?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm glad that you brought it up, because just what you said shows the inequalities of what we—and by “we”, I mean CAP and our PTOs—are living through right now. With the distinctions-based approach that the government has been using, most of the help and resources are going to th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The little amount of money we have received has created quite a bit of, how should I put this, uneasiness with our PTOs, so much so that the board of directors met. The $250,000 is an insult, and we will be sending the money back.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I would just like to inform the committee of news from CAP this morning.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples has been left with no choice but to initiate legal proceedings against the Government of Canada on behalf of the off-reserve and urban indigenous peoples over ongoing inequitable treatment in violation of their rights. Government continues to u

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, everything is turned off here.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, again, it's to be treated as equal. I don't know if I mentioned it in my opening remarks, but we signed a political accord back in 2018. That has to be worked on. We have been working on it, but it is so slow to get the resources to implement some of these items that were i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe CAP was aware of the announcement on March 13. We had already reached out to request that CAP and its PTOs be included in the federal response policies before that announcement was made, but we didn't hear the criteria for the competition for funding until, I believe, m

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —your committee suggests strongly to the government that not only the three distinctions-based organizations be included, but also all the NIOs be included in their discussions with indigenous peoples.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, you can make sure that you follow up on how the political accord is coming along. For any new programs that are announced by CIRNAC or ISC that affect indigenous people, make sure they are not only reserved for distinctions-based groups, but open to everyone.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As you know, CAP and its PTOs are all democratically elected representative organizations. Our PTOs are the ones that are serving the off-reserve communities, and it's important to note that these communities are the ones that know what their needs are and, if they do get funds,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  But without federal funding, our PTOs cannot meet the needs that already existed before COVID-19, let alone the added pressure due to a pandemic. CAP has been told that we will receive $250,000 under the indigenous community support fund. This was the result of a competitive bu