Industry committee  Well, I think that each case would have to be assessed individually on what can be stored. The world doesn't have an unlimited source of copper or lithium. We have only a limited availability of critical minerals. Canada has a lot, but you can't just take them out. We have to sta

Industry committee  Well, this time around, when the target was set, there was a lot of work in co-developing. Indigenous organizations got together to help the government meet the targets. Some of the things we're working on right now are things like an indigenous-led procurement institute that wil

Industry committee  Meegwetch. [Witness spoke in Ojibwa] [English] I just stated my spirit name in my language—Biidaabin Dawn—and said that I'm from beautiful Manitoulin Island and the Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation. I want to say meegwetch for inviting me to speak with you today about indigen

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Is there a possibility just to state one other item?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I really want to remind this committee that Canada's future is linked to building indigenous capacity, to become engaged in the economy, because sustainable development in Canada requires our involvement, mitigating climate change requires our involvement, opening the doors to in

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the things is that, usually, indigenous communities are at a disadvantage in competing with mainstream projects. That's always been an issue with respect to the infrastructure financing that's been available through the government. I have to come back to the fact that I

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I see. I think that some of it can be in the form of loans. We currently deliver loan programs for indigenous businesses through the aboriginal financial institutions network, but there's also a need, of course, for grant programs—a combination.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are longer-term projects. We need a new fiscal arrangement in Canada. Again, I want to emphasize how important it is for indigenous institutions to be involved in the delivery of these programs going forward.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. As I mentioned, I think we have the capacity now to deliver our own programming. A new fiscal arrangement is really critical with respect to indigenous programming.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not specifically, but they can be made available to the committee. We talked about providing a summary of the national indigenous economic strategy that's soon to be released, so we'd be happy to provide some of those reports.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There is a variety of programs and services, for sure, but when you look at the level of indigenous spending on economic development in the whole federal government, it's a small percentage right now. I've heard of numbers between 2% and 4% of the total federal government spend o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I am familiar with that as well. Moving forward one of the things, as I mentioned, we plan to see, and hope for support for, is a national indigenous infrastructure institute that would work closely under this act and help with implementation with respect to indigenous peopl

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. Sorry.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can give you one really good example in my own area. The first nations have collaborated to develop a legal framework on aquaculture in our region. For example, we have indigenous-owned aquaculture operations, but we also have non-indigenous aquaculture operations. Previously,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it's a co-operative approach that we're looking at. When we look at co-developing the implementation plan for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, it's really important that we be involved in that. There are 13 references to economic de