Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Ms. Idlout. In terms of institutions and development, the impact of COVID-19 was interesting. One thing is that it affected indigenous businesses disproportionately. If you look at the industries that Métis, in particular, are exposed to, Métis are 40% less likely to be in some industries, like finance, scientific and technical, than non-indigenous Canadians.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  All answers to economic development have to take into account the other factors that impact it as well, including the fact that indigenous people have lower levels of wealth and income. That's a fundamental impact. Not all of those can be traced back to the root effect of colonialism, and its impact upon our communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Generally, as I was mentioning earlier, I think one of the issues that the Métis face as opposed to first nations and Inuit is the lack of institutions and the lack of access to current programming—not even future programming. We don't have an equivalent to the First Nations Finance Authority.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Wherever you have a price differential, of course, there's a potential for economic leakage. I do generally agree with the point that the negotiation of self-government modern-day treaties, whether with the first nations or the Métis, is fundamentally good in providing certainty and allowing Métis and first nations to make those trade-offs and decisions that are best for their communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. If we look at what remedies could be done by the Métis National Council in terms of business development, we see that it would be to commit to the re-establishment of the Métis economic development strategy through the following: the capitalization of the MCCs rather than a push to borrow; the aboriginal entrepreneurship program growth that supports demonstrated demand; access to the Canada small business financing program; and support in establishing regulated commercial sector Métis institutions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They also, and to a lesser extent, drag the composite indigenous statistics towards the non-indigenous statistic. With respect to economic development, the source of the barriers that Métis face can be traced to the latter recognition of Métis rights when compared to first nations and Inuit rights.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, and thank you for the invitation. The first thing I'd like to do is extend the regrets of President Caron, who is unable to attend today. She has asked me to present in her stead. On the barriers for indigenous economic development, I will start with looking at the sources of the barriers we face.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thanks. I'll start from the top. First, I want to extend the regrets of President Caron, who is unable to attend and has asked me to present for the Métis National Council. In looking at the sources of barriers to indigenous economic development, I'm going to make a broad distinction between—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If that is now okay, I'll continue. I'd like to make a broad distinction between economic development and business development. Business development is faced by citizens and collectively held corporations, while economic development is largely faced by institutions, which fundamentally support business development.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —the statistics are potentially misleading for Métis. Since 2005, as an example, the rate of increase in Métis median income reported by StatsCan is significantly higher than that for the non-indigenous, first nations, or Inuit populations. Concurrently, the Métis population, reported by StatsCan, has increased at a greater rate than that of first nations, Inuit, or non-indigenous population, and far beyond what could be accounted for by natural growth.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Morse, you may now continue.