Good morning. Thank you. I apologize for not being there in person. With the board meeting yesterday morning and major delays in my travel, I would have gotten there at 3:00 in the morning. I experienced that already, and I don’t like it. Please excuse me for that.

I would like to thank Leane Walsh and her team at CIRNAC, the First Nations Tax Commission, the First Nations Financial Management Board and the First Nations Infrastructure Institute’s Development Board for working collaboratively on these amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, also referred to as the FMA over the last several years.

The First Nations Finance Authority is a non-profit organization whose mandate is to provide financing, investment and advisory services to those First Nation governments across Canada that voluntary schedule to the FMA. The FMA obtained Royal Assent in 2005 with all parties’ support, and the FNFA has been providing services to First Nation governments across Canada ever since.

To date, there are 342 First Nations that have been scheduled to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, and the FNFA has loaned over $1.8 billion to its membership of 151 First Nations through nine provinces and the Northwest Territories. This has resulted in the creation of over 20,000 jobs and an economic output of $4 billion, which demonstrates that we are stronger together, but certain economic and social needs of our member communities can only be met through amendments to our act.

The FNFA strongly supports Bill C-45 in principle. It brings significant, positive change that will lead to enhanced opportunities for First Nations and Indigenous governments across Canada. There are several amendments that are most relevant to the FNFA, for example, the financing secured by other revenue regulations will be incorporated directly into FMA. Bringing the provisions of other revenues directly into the FMA will result in a comprehensive FMA that is much easier to follow.

Another example is that the definition of a “borrowing member” is expanded in anticipation of eligibility being expanded to Indigenous governments and non-profit organization, or NPOs, though other regulations will still be required. These important entities provide essential economic and social services to First Nations.

With 634 First Nations across Canada, it is important to note that there is not a standard method for planning needed infrastructure or for undertaking economic development. Some First Nations make all community decisions at the council level. Other First Nations utilize not-for-profit authorities, for example, health, water, housing and education, and some utilize tribal councils, where many First Nations work together for economic opportunities. The proposed amendments will have significant positive impacts for First Nations.

Thank you and mahsi’cho for your time and consideration.

Thank you for that question, Senator Tannas. It’s a really important one. It starts to look at the future, where we’re going and what else we need to do in terms of further amendments coming down the road or even institutions that need to be created.

I know there’s been a lot of talk about Clearwater Seafoods. That is a prime example where you had the involvement of the federal government. I’m talking about fisheries here. The fishing licences needed to be in the ownership of First Nations. They needed to be transferred from owners who were probably not First Nations. We worked collaboratively with the nations, private industry and fisheries to get this done to the point where it’s been very successful and they’ve had record profits in the past few years. That’s a prime example.

The other thing is we’ve actually started working with a number of provinces. We’ve been meeting with different provinces about different ways of getting First Nations involved in large resource projects. The B.C. government has shown some willingness to help First Nations during the construction phase, such as paying the interest on loans, which is really a key part of that. We’ve recently met with the Quebec government, with Ontario, and we’re planning to meet with Saskatchewan and a few other governments.

The key underlying component here is in order to get involved in a lot of these projects — it takes financing to do this — you need a revenue stream. When we talk about the infrastructure gap and the enormous size of it, it takes willingness on the part of the federal government to really step in and make a difference. We are having some discussions with the federal government right now.

But by and far, there hasn’t been a lot of solutions coming forward from the federal government, but that is the ingredient missing right now for the success or the further increase of organizations involved in this. If we look at the eligibility expanding, there are at least 400 not-for-profit organizations that could benefit from these amendments. I don’t know how much time we have.