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Results: 1 - 15 of 208
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to start off with Arctic Fresh. One thing you mentioned was that there are not a lot of solutions being mentioned, but you did have a unique idea, which I heard. You mentioned the importance of establishing an economy through micro-businesses.
Can you tell me how that is different from the way co-ops work, and why this is a best practice that the government should consider?
Merlyn Recinos
View Merlyn Recinos Profile
Merlyn Recinos
2021-05-04 12:34
The co-ops work in a system where the whole thing is to create revenue for the community, for the owners, at the end of the day. Most of this system is not managed or run by the owners. They purchase, they pay and then at the end of the day they receive a patronage if the system is well run.
The difference between that and a small economy is that you, as an individual, your livelihood, is invested into this micro-business, so you want it to be successful. Not only that, but you have the autonomy to make decisions in regard to how and what you want to do within your business.
We're building capacity right now. We've helped 15 small businesses to open across Baffin Island, and we're doing this by teaching them how to properly run a business on the ground. We're supporting them with logistics. We're supporting them with everything else. Now they're running their own businesses, and it's about their investments into them. The biggest thing they talk about is how they want to make something for their community, but also for their kids. The investment is bigger and they take ownership of it and pride in it, versus a system where it's tailored and layered out so that they purchase and they get patronage, but they have very little in between.
View Jaime Battiste Profile
Lib. (NS)
Can you expand on that a bit and tell me if you believe that it's just a matter of communities supporting each others' economies that would help the food security, or is there more to this solution? Feel free to elaborate on it, because I find it interesting.
Merlyn Recinos
View Merlyn Recinos Profile
Merlyn Recinos
2021-05-04 12:35
I'll give you a quick example.
Right now, let's say that you have $100, and you want to go and buy a coffee cup at the co-op. You go and buy that coffee cup at the co-op and you pay the $100. The co-op, let's say, makes $20 on the coffee cup. The remaining of that is shipped down south. Now, what the co-op does is reinvest that and hire a few people here and there.
With the micro-businesses, let's say, you have that $100 and you go and buy it from a micro-business. You give that person $100. They're going to need clothing. They're going to go to the clothing micro-store to buy it. Now you have rotated that money and you have created an economy.
As many times as you can get that $100 to go around the community, you're creating that economy. You're giving them an opportunity to really gain that employment. They're in control of it, so they're the ones who are deciding.
It plays at how we get people into the paying system or the wage economy—but on their own terms.
View Richard Cannings Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you.
I'll start with you, Mr. Recinos. I really appreciated the comments in your testimony about self-sufficiency in northern communities. My own small experience with food insecurity in the north was the summer I spent in Old Crow. Everybody, in the early part of the summer, was waiting to get out on the land and go to the fish camps, but they needed their food supplies to go out there for any length of time. The food all came in on the plane, TNTA from Whitehorse. It was very hard to predict what you'd get. On Tuesday you'd go down to the plane and all they'd have was ice cream. The next week you'd go down and all they'd have was soft drinks. The community was really held hostage by that. Everybody was waiting for pilot biscuits.
You made the comment, I think, that micro-businesses were a better model than co-ops. I assume that you mean co-ops in the big co-op sense, where that money flows out of Old Crow or Igloolik or wherever and goes south to the head of co-op land. What about the difference between micro-businesses and small co-ops that are based in a community? That's where I got a bit confused. Perhaps you can clarify that and whether smaller local co-ops would be a good model.
Merlyn Recinos
View Merlyn Recinos Profile
Merlyn Recinos
2021-05-04 13:10
Thank you.
At its fundamental core, the co-op is a really good thing for communities. The problem is that, a lot of times, we don't use or we don't do what is fundamentally on paper. That's where the problem comes in. When you don't have autonomy over what you're doing within the community, it becomes really hard for the community to be able to do something.
For me, the co-op does play a really good role within it, but we have to innovate. That is key. We can't stay still within the same frame of mind, because that's how we become extinct. We have to innovate. If we can't innovate, we have the Amazons. We have the different players now in Iqaluit and things like that. That's because before there was that system that no competition was good—until the big guys came in and just destroyed the economy, which is what's happening in Iqaluit with Amazon and all of those things.
Before we get to that level, we have to innovate locally by creating micro-businesses, by creating opportunity within our community, so that we don't leave it to the big boys—the Amazons, the Walmarts and things like that—to take over and really destroy our economy at the end just because they have the money, the know-how and everything else.
View Eric Melillo Profile
CPC (ON)
View Eric Melillo Profile
2020-12-01 11:41
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Vodden, I'm the member of Parliament for Kenora so I have many communities that Perimeter and Bearskin Airlines service in my riding, as you know.
Many airlines servicing the north had to suspend service to remote communities due to the pandemic and due to financial strain, as you mentioned. For these communities it's a loss of a major service and an essential service for many. I believe it makes it more difficult for many of these northern communities to be prepared for the second wave of the pandemic and moving forward beyond that.
Mr. Vodden, can you speak to what the government has done so far to support airlines? Do you feel it's been enough to support the northern air carriers and ensure that northern communities are having the services and the resources they need during this critical time?
Nick Vodden
View Nick Vodden Profile
Nick Vodden
2020-12-01 11:42
To be quite frank, we have had no subsidy to this day from the federal government, aside from the federal wage subsidy program that the entire country was offered. A subsidy program is being pushed by both the provinces, working with the federal government. That started back in May and has not got to the carriers to this day.
To bluntly answer your question, we have not had the support. There is some momentum now to try to move that forward. If we can get those lines of support we will be able to move to phase one of the recovery plan, which will be reinstating some of the service we've had to cut for economic reasons.
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay.
Mr. Vodden, a fairly significant amount of funding was announced in the fall economic statement yesterday for regional airlines. I'm wondering if you've had an opportunity to see that and if you think any of those dollars will be of benefit to you.
Nick Vodden
View Nick Vodden Profile
Nick Vodden
2020-12-01 11:52
Yes, I was aware of that. I have reviewed it. I do believe that is the package the federal government is working with the provinces on and working with air carriers like ourselves. I believe within the last 45 to 60 days, we have had some balls in motion there, working with our provincial governments who are working with the federal government for deals on that.
View Pam Damoff Profile
Lib. (ON)
Okay. That's great. Because when I look at the numbers, they're fairly significant. It's always important to make sure they're getting to the right places and they're serving the needs.
You're still part of those dialogues or the conversations going on, are you?
Bryan Mark
View Bryan Mark Profile
Bryan Mark
2020-11-26 19:04
I would like to start by thanking you for giving me this opportunity today.
On behalf of the chiefs of the nine communities that make up the Innu nation of Quebec, representing approximately 20,000 members, I want to thank you for the invitation you extended on May 26 to appear before the committee. That was exactly six months ago today. I want to thank my colleague, Chief Mike McKenzie, for participating in that meeting and standing up for the needs of the Innu nation. I also want to thank Dr. Stanley Volant, an Innu doctor and one of our members.
As you know, we have highly knowledgeable experts providing medical support as part of the Innu nation unit in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first wave, we have been able to protect our communities, and that continues now, in the midst of the second wave. The Côte-Nord is one of the only regions in Quebec that is not considered a red zone—an area deemed to have the highest risk of transmission of COVID-19. The Innu make up 12% of the population in the region. We are convinced that, thanks to the strategic unit, we were better able to align our local efforts with regional measures.
Like our ancestors, we were forward-thinking, anticipating future events and taking initiative to mobilize and better support our community. Our collective leadership is a testament to the pride we have as Innu. Our priority is the health of our people, and we will keep up our efforts. Now, we must continue working to prevent outbreaks that would send us into reaction and response mode.
Our members have made enormous sacrifices. The reality is we are geographically isolated and that puts us at risk. We have many people who continue to come and go in our communities, ranging from construction workers and health care workers to educators and transportation service providers. Understanding our reality is paramount. We accept all essential workers, but we are also confronted with the challenge of keeping our people, especially our seniors, healthy. Luckily, they have been spared thus far thanks to our collective efforts.
The overriding concern of our elected representatives in the Côte-Nord and Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean administrative regions is the vulnerability of our populations to the pandemic given the high risk of spread. That spread would be serious, indeed, if we could not afford to keep the resources we had managed to put in place to protect our communities. Since the second wave began, we have been able to implement co-operation-based protection measures, with the help of our partners.
The question we were asking back in May, during the first wave, was this: What steps has the federal government taken to ensure the continuity of health and safety services in our communities? Some funding supports are in place, but restrictions are in effect, restrictions we have to explain to our people.
We have gleaned bits and pieces about the vaccination strategy that has been so talked about of late, and we urge federal authorities to set out a clear plan for the months ahead, one that goes hand in hand with our local approach. First nations governance must have a hand in developing and implementing the plan. We are calling on the federal government to ensure its short-, medium- and long-term measures support those we have taken, whether in the area of health care, social services, education, public safety, the management and protection of Nitassinan or economic opportunities.
As my colleague Chief Mike McKenzie said back in May, we must be able to rely on the federal government to support our businesses in order to protect what we have. Our economic levers must be maintained and supported to bridge the gaps and stay afloat in the quest for financial autonomy. The economic recovery has nothing to do with us. I would even go so far as to say that a recovery is incompatible with the reality of some of our communities; there can only be talk of an economic beginning.
On a social level, our members need a boost. As you know, winter is long, but it is even longer where we live. We are, for the most part, isolated, but we must encourage our people to keep up the fight against an invisible enemy that few saw coming. We are in solution mode, and we have a plan. We do, however, need help to carry it out.
Come winter, food security becomes a real concern.
Our elders need reassurance that they will be able to eat caribou, that the essential cultural connection between the Atik caribou and Innu will not be broken, that our families will be able to find comfort during the holiday season and celebrate—in accordance with the rules—by at least eating what our people have eaten since time immemorial.
We are requesting substantial support for our traditional food security. With respect for the resource and the rules, our hunters are ready to set off in search of food to feed their families, as our ancestors have always done. That is vital.
Bear in mind that our reality is unique and that we always have to fight for what is obvious. The spectre of federal and provincial authorities is always there and can often delay what is obvious. The fact is political goodwill is the ingredient that will help ensure measures are aligned to make a real difference.
We stepped up as a nation and we are continuing to do so. However, we need support if we are to keep the situation under control. People's lives are at stake.
Tshinashkumitin. Thank you.
View Marilène Gill Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all the witnesses and say a special hello to Chief Mark and Mr. Therrien Pinette. Kuei kuei utshimau and kuei kuei.
Chief Mark, you talked about the community's needs as far as health care and business are concerned. Did you see any differences in the needs of Innu communities during the first wave versus the second wave? If so, what were they? I realize, of course, that the situation can vary depending on the community. If so, feel free to share that with us.
Bryan Mark
View Bryan Mark Profile
Bryan Mark
2020-11-26 19:24
Kuei. Good evening, Mrs. Gill.
I wish I could provide a unified answer for the entire Innu nation, but the realities of each community are so different and community-specific that it would be hard. That's precisely why I wish my colleague Jean-Claude Pinette were with me today. He could speak to those issues.
Economically, the whole Innu nation is affected by the pandemic. Things weren't great before the pandemic given our geographic location—a particularly remote and isolated area without roads. Some people have tried to start small businesses, but they were hit hard by the first wave of the pandemic. The impact is being compounded by the second wave.
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