QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Indigenous Services

Minister, thank you for being with us today. I will be asking a question today on behalf of my colleague Senator Prosper:

Budget 2025 spoke to special purpose vehicles and committed to “. . . further enhance access to capital support for Indigenous groups seeking equity participation in economic and resource development projects.”

First Nations’ involvement in major projects and infrastructure projects is key to economic reconciliation.

Enhanced access to capital can also be accomplished by the ability to monetize federal funding commitments in order to access upfront loans for critical infrastructure projects.

Minister, I understand your department is looking at a monetization pilot project. Will you be able to announce the details of that project within this fiscal year?

Thank you. I welcome the question. First, I want to speak to what opportunity there is for development. If communities choose to move forward with development, we are here to support them in that space. That includes my ministerial colleagues.

Major projects are one of the vehicles pushing that progress forward, not only in investing for development for Indigenous communities, but also in ensuring that the contribution is felt within the Canadian economy. Indigenous Peoples contribute over $12 billion in the development space to the GDP annually, and I think it could be even higher. I do believe that that statistic might be a little bit outdated.

This project that we’re undertaking, once it is prepared — I also want to respect the senator’s timeline, and I would be very happy to come back and provide additional information on what it is and what I foresee to be a success, because I think Indigenous Peoples are coming to the table in innovative ways, looking to ensure they’re bringing things forward to their members.

I will always be a minister that is here to support them in that space, and I believe my other ministerial colleagues who also work within the space of economic and sustainable development are open to that as well.

Thank you, minister.

Access to capital is one piece of the puzzle when it comes to building much-needed infrastructure in First Nations communities. Another is the capacity to plan, manage procurement and manage the life cycle of the project. The First Nations Infrastructure Institute, or FNII, was established in legislation two Parliaments ago, but it has not yet been fully stood up. When will your government appoint the board members and fully stand up the FNII?

Thank you. I want to speak to something that is really important. It might not perfectly answer your question, but I want to speak to something really important.

I had the opportunity this morning to have a housing and infrastructure session with the Assembly of First Nations, or AFN, and we spoke to this infrastructure gap, and while that gap exists — and I want to acknowledge that historically the reason why it exists is because of underfunding — I do see this as a space where there is opportunity for communities to take advantage of creating and generating wealth or revenue for their communities.

Building a home doesn’t only mean getting a family into a house. It means generating employment. It means generating revenue for the community. It means ensuring that you’re able to stand up an Indigenous business and have that business serve that community and many other places. So, innovating in that space and trying to respond to it —