Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  FNII has probably moved quicker than all of the other institutions, because these folks paved the way for us. We have a clear path, a clear road, and we're excited about it. We want to become a new institution as early as possible. Infrastructure needs in our communities are insu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As a chief, I bought into the fiscal management tools. I was one of the earlier bands to implement property tax, and that brings own-source revenues to the first nation. Then I was on a plane to Ottawa to talk to Health Canada. They said, “Chief, what do you want?” I said that w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I shook their hands and accepted the deal, but then on the plane coming home, I was thinking about how I was going to pay for this gymnasium. I got a hold of Manny, and he referred me to Fiscal Realities and brought in the team. We worked on our own sales tax to take over the GST

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I'll give you a couple of examples of what we've been doing with our pilot projects. We've gone into two communities with our team. I'll go in there as a former chief and get introduced to the community. We'll find out what their infrastructure needs are and we'll bring th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, good afternoon. My name is Allan Claxton. I am chair of the First Nations Infrastructure Institute's development board. I was formerly chief of my nation for 20 years. I'm on council now, and I have been on council for 10 years. I've spent