Government Operations committee  I would say that this would create a further barrier to us. As the point was made earlier, for women-owned businesses, if they don't hire women, they are still considered women-owned businesses. It's the same for a minority-owned business. If we're telling an indigenous-owned com

Government Operations committee  Absolutely, and the target, I believe, should remain a floor rather than a ceiling. For instance, we know that the rollout with the modernization of the procurement strategy will happen over three years. During some of these discussions, certain departments were prioritized. My

Government Operations committee  If there's not a target set, at the end of the year we say, “Oh well, we tried.” How did we try? I think if you have benchmarking, reporting, tying this to bonuses and shedding a light by having a department-by-department reporting mechanism in place, it will highlight to us wher

Government Operations committee  Look at the indigenous population of the region and set it accordingly.

Government Operations committee  Yes. As my colleague Shannin mentioned, we have developed a definition of indigenous businesses, and we are going through our own organizations to engage and make sure everybody is on board with this, but essentially it's looking at our communities from a community perspective:

Government Operations committee  I think surviving the pandemic was a challenge for everybody, and the accessibility of some of the tools put in place by the federal government for businesses during the pandemic may not have applied to indigenous businesses. I'm not saying this is the blanket reason, but look a

Government Operations committee  I think there are two things. One of them I just mentioned, which is creating those relationships with indigenous businesses through procurement and PSIB coordinators who exist in all departments. If they don't know about indigenous businesses that exist, we're not going to get p

Government Operations committee  It's a fabulous question. Thank you. I'll begin by saying that when I take a look around the landscape in this region—I'm talking about Gaspésie and Mi’gma’gi—we were not destined to be poor on our own homelands, but often we find ourselves as spectators to the regional economy

Government Operations committee  I think one of the primary ways the federal government can support the development of this institute is through its financial support and endorsement of this organization. It is being designed by indigenous organizations that are coming together. It's truly a historic time for

Government Operations committee  I cannot speak to what is causing that discrepancy. I can only speak to my experience in working with the procurement strategy. Since 2011, as I have tried to make this strategy work for my suite of different companies, I've seen that one of the initial challenges an indigenous b

Government Operations committee  Luckily, it is. Where has the government done well in procurement? I think looking at the procurement program and going through this modernization exercise has afforded the opportunity to listen to many indigenous voices and their experiences with procurement. Creating a target

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  I don't have access to the data. I could not answer your question. However, I'm a storyteller. I want to tell you about using IT, as an example. Our board, the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, was seeking to update our website. Under the sole-source contracting, w

Government Operations committee  I do. I was just taking notes. I think what's important when we say we have challenges with access to capital.... I'm going to further qualify that and call it “access to competitively priced capital”. If I can obtain a loan at 11% but I'm lacking the financial literacy or the f