I am honoured to join you for the Vision Quest 2000 conference. The fact that a conference like this is being held demonstrates how important Aboriginal people are to the overall economic well-being of Canada. In looking at the program I was quite pleased to see the prominence and calibre of your guest speakers.

It is also a pleasure to be in Manitoba. As some of you may already know, I was born in Ste-Anne and I have a lot of family in this province. My riding of Kenora-Rainy River encompasses the entire Ontario-Manitoba border, and it includes territory that is part of Treaties #3 and #5. And as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, I enjoy a close working relationship with the new Manitoba government.

Almost two and a half years ago, the Government of Canada announced Gathering Strength - Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan. As you are aware, Gathering Strength was a response to the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. It identified four major themes:

• a renewed partnership
• strong and effective Aboriginal governance
• a new fiscal relationship, and
• supporting strong communities, people and economies.

Gathering Strength included a number of specific initiatives intended to help us meet those goals, including $350 million for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

In addition, by 2002-2003, about 1 billion dollars in new funding will have been made available. As a result of Gathering Strength, the departmental funding base has been increased by almost $200 million per year.

The federal government's political, financial, and moral commitment to Gathering Strength demonstrates that we are serious about building a stronger and more productive relationship with Aboriginal people.

It is only the beginning, though.

Since I was appointed Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, many of you may have heard me speak about a two-track approach.

In order to move forward together, we must deal with the grievances of the past. This means addressing the legacy of residential schools. It means settling outstanding specific claims. It means entering into treaties in parts of Canada where we have none, and finding modern ways to ensure that the benefits that were intended to flow from the historic treaties actually do.

It has been said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. I would add that those who refuse to deal with the legacy of the past will not be able to build the future they desire. The economic, cultural, and social well-being of Aboriginal people - and indeed, of all Canadians - depends on our willingness to address the past and move forward together.

This is the first track. And while we still have a long way to go, Gathering Strength has laid the foundation.

While the foundation has been laid -- and I will continue the important work of resolving the grievances arising from the past -- we need to begin thinking about the future. I sincerely believe we are at a juncture where it is possible to do so.

The second track I often speak about involves preparing for the future. In my mind, this means building First Nations and Inuit economies within Canada. This will give young First Nations and Inuit youth a brighter future to look forward to. It will foster the self-sufficiency that has been denied First Nations communities for too long. It will give First Nations people greater opportunities to assume their rightful place within Canada.

I don't think I need to go through all of the numbers and statistics with you. We are all well aware of the unacceptably high rates of unemployment and poverty in First Nations communities.

The challenges are well documented:

• the lack of economic infrastructure (roads; sewer and water; electricity; even telephones) and the detrimental effect it has on communities' economic prospects;
• shortfalls in equity and debt capital and the need for innovative financing solutions;
• impeded access to lands and resources;
• the diverse needs of the growing Aboriginal business sector;
• the skills gaps to participate in well-paying jobs of the future

This situation has not come about overnight, and it would be naive to think we can solve it in the short term.

But that's no excuse not to get on with the job.

It is not good enough to suggest, as some do, that the challenges are too big to deal with, that First Nations and Inuit should give up on their communities, that we should encourage social and economic assimilation in order to make the problem go away.

You know as well as I do that this is not an option. We cannot and must not repeat the mistakes of the past. While it may seem difficult at times, we need to develop new approaches for the future.

And we need to do it now.

First Nations and Inuit communities are seeing an explosion in the number of young people. As things stand, more than 50% of the population is below the age of 25 - and that number is increasing. Every year, First Nations and Inuit represent a higher percentage of new entrants to the labour force.

More and more First Nations and Inuit youth are taking advantage of post-secondary education opportunities. Today, there are 27,000 First Nations and Inuit enrolled in colleges and universities across Canada, up from only a few hundred twenty years ago.

We need to create an economic climate that will allow these young people to thrive.

I know it sounds like a daunting task. I have seen studies that indicate we need to create 18,000 more jobs a year just to bring the First Nations and Inuit unemployment rate in line with the rest of Canada. And those studies don't factor in the current baby boom.

But as daunting as the task is, this young generation presents us with a tremendous opportunity.

They are the best-educated generation of First Nations people ever. They are comfortable with new and changing technologies. They are well equipped to make their way in the new knowledge-based economy. They know what the world has to offer, and they want to take advantage of it without losing sight of who they are or leaving their communities and families behind.

And I believe the rest of the country is waking up to this reality and is ready to move forward.

Business sees that its future labour force, and its future consumer base, is comprised increasingly from the Aboriginal population.

The private sector and provincial governments here in the prairies are leading the way in recognizing the future shape of this labour force and in building relationships with Aboriginal communities.

Increased publicity of Aboriginal issues is leading more and more Canadians to the conclusion that we need to do the right thing, particularly when it comes to creating economic opportunity.

We have a unique opportunity to move forward. All we need now is the determination to do so.

Since my appointment as Minister, I have spent a great deal of time examining what exactly the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development does.

I have gone through the Department's spending pretty much one line at a time with a number of questions in mind:

• why are we doing this?
• could we be doing things more effectively?
• in what way are we serving as a catalyst for economic development?
• how can we do a better job of building First Nations and Inuit economies?

I came to the conclusion that unless a major shift in focus takes place, I will continue to be the head of a social assistance agency. I think that's unacceptable. And I know it's unacceptable to Aboriginal people across this country.

In the last eight months, I have visited about 65 First Nations and Inuit communities in every part of the country. I have met with chiefs, elders, community leaders, and individuals.

They have delivered a clear message to me.

Individual chiefs don't want to spend their time working as welfare administrators. They want to get on with the business of building stronger communities and economies. They want to create conditions of hope and the promise of prosperity for their young people.

I want to tell you that I have heard that message loud and clear.

But I can't do that with the resources currently allocated specifically to economic development. As things stand right now, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development invests about $25 million a year on strategic economic and business development across Canada.

I am here today to announce a significant increase in DIAND's economic development portfolio. Effective this year, I have aligned departmental priorities to focus an additional $75 million on strategic economic investment. This more than quadruples my Department's ability to make the strategic investments so necessary for building First Nations and Inuit economies.

Increased funding for fiscal year 2000 - 2001 and beyond will be used to enhance our efforts to develop partnerships with communities and businesses, other governments, and the private sector in a number of key areas:

• support for increased First Nations and Inuit participation and benefits in major regional economic development initiatives;
• enhanced business development support;
• programs that assist First Nations and Inuit capacity to negotiate benefits and participate in resource-based partnership opportunities;
• innovative solutions to access-to- capital problems faced by Aboriginal businesses; and
• building departmental capacity to design and deliver new and enhanced programs.

A number of the Department's current initiatives have proven quite effective at promoting business development and First Nations employment. I am adding a total of $17 million to their budgets:

• The Resource Partnerships Program (formerly known as the Federal-Provincial Territorial Regional Partnerships Program) is in place to increase First Nation and Inuit participation in and benefits from major natural resource development projects. It supports regional initiatives that allow for joint planning and early identification of major resource partnering opportunities. There is a rapidly growing demand for joint working agreements in the forestry, mining, and oil and gas sectors. To meet this growing demand, funding will increase by $5 million.

• The Resource Access Negotiations initiative assists First Nations and Inuit communities in accessing and managing off-reserve natural resources and attracting investment in natural resource projects. Its budget will increase by $1 million.

• The Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative works with the private sector to promote Aboriginal employment throughout Canada. It has enjoyed great success to date, and its budget will triple through the addition of $1 million.

• The Opportunity Fund was established in 1998 to provide equity for the start-up and expansion of community-based businesses. Last year more than 100 small businesses across Canada benefited from the Opportunity Fund. The Resources Acquisition Program provides communities with similar equity support for resource-based businesses. This year, the Fund's budget will be increased by $10 million.

Across Canada, there are numerous Aboriginal companies looking for the opportunity to compete and do business on a regional or even international scale. In many cases, they are held back because they are unable to access bid and performance bonds, even when they meet industry standards.

Gathering Strength included $2.5 million to establish a new Aboriginal Contract Guarantee Instrument to remove that obstacle. We have been working with the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association and private sector experts on designing and implementing a Guarantee Instrument. Our analysis tells us that in order to make this initiative truly effective, we require an additional $3 million. Right now I would like to confirm my plan to put in place this additional funding.

In all sectors, one of the major hurdles facing Aboriginal entrepreneurs is the difficulty in obtaining outside sources of capital. There are numerous factors that contribute to this situation, many of which will require a longer-term approach to address. I intend to work with Aboriginal entrepreneurs and First Nations and Inuit communities ? as well as my colleague, the Minister of Industry ? to identify solutions.

Across Canada, an increasing number of entrepreneurs -- particularly in the resource and high- tech sectors -- are looking to equity investment partners for the equity necessary to grow and take advantage of business opportunities. There are, however, no venture capital or patient capital instruments specializing in First Nations business.

My officials have engaged in preliminary discussions with Aboriginal business leaders and the financial sector on establishing a venture capital fund tailored to meet the needs of First Nations entrepreneurs. It is time to accelerate the process. This year I am allocating $500,000 so that we can work towards finalizing the design of a new venture capital initiative. I fully expect that by next year we will be in a position to implement an Aboriginal venture capital fund.

Another difficulty facing First Nations and Inuit communities is the lack of resources to become true business partners in large-scale developments. As Canada's economy continues to grow, I believe there are going to be a great number of opportunities for these communities to become equity partners in major ventures. This is especially true of the resource sector, where numerous large-scale oil and gas, mining, and forestry projects are starting to come together - many of them within traditional lands and territories.

First Nations and Inuit are going to be heavily involved in projects. So why should they not also derive the kind of benefits we associate with equity positions? Not only would the communities benefit financially, the climate of stability created would attract further investments.

From my discussions with First Nations and Inuit leaders, I know they are looking for more than economic spin-offs when resource development occurs in their traditional lands. While agreements on employment opportunities, subcontracting, and training are welcome, they are only part of the picture. I believe we need to expand our efforts so that First Nations and Inuit can become partners in the true business sense of the word. That is, they need to be able to take equity positions in developments.

To that end, I want to confirm that (for the balance of this year) $10.5 million is now available to help First Nations achieve this goal.

In many parts of Canada, including my own region of Northwestern Ontario, prospects for economic development are limited by the lack of physical infrastructure. Many isolated First Nations and Inuit communities are situated in areas with great mineral and forestry potential. It is difficult to develop that potential when there are no roads to reach the resource or to get products to market, no reliable source of power to process raw materials, and no telecommunications to reach prospective customers and suppliers.

In the past, governments have let jurisdictional issues get in the way of making progress. Provincial governments have felt it is Canada's job to connect First Nations to the rest of the world. The federal government has placed the responsibility for off-reserve infrastructure with the provinces. In the meantime, Aboriginal people are left behind.

That way of thinking simply will not do. All levels of government have to work with Aboriginal people and the private sector to turn potential into reality. We have to sit down together and get on with the job.

I will be working with my Cabinet colleagues, provincial counterparts, Aboriginal groups and the private sector to identify partnership processes and initiatives for greater Aboriginal participation and benefits in major regional economic development initiatives.

Today I am allocating $40 million for regional partnerships. This will assist First Nation and Inuit participation in - and benefit from - major regional economic development projects. On a case-by-case basis, I am prepared to enter into cost-shared investments with First Nations and Inuit, provincial and territorial governments and the private sector, to develop project-related economic infrastructure and capacity building.

By working together in this fashion, we can open up untold stores of natural wealth. We can create jobs and opportunity for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. And we can demonstrate that governments are capable of working together to benefit all of our citizens.

The initiatives I've outlined will help shift the balance from dependency on social assistance to increased self-sufficiency. It speaks directly to two of the major themes of Gathering Strength. It is built on the kind of partnerships which bring real and practical improvements to the lives of Aboriginal people, and it lays out a framework for many partners to work together to support strong Aboriginal communities, people and economies, thus ending the cycle of poverty and despair.

We are committing significant amounts of taxpayers' dollars to economic development, and we have an obligation to make sure we do things properly. We need the capacity to ensure that funding we provide is used effectively and that we are accountable for our actions. For that reason, the balance of today's announcement will go towards strengthening our capacity to deal with economic development, to analyse projects and proposals, and to perform proper due diligence. Canadians expect this, and First Nations and Inuit deserve the highest standard of service possible.

Taken together, the initiatives I've announced today can and will make an immediate and positive contribution to First Nations economic development.

Canada is in the middle of an unprecedented economic boom, and most economists tell us we can expect another four or five years of solid growth. So far, First Nations and Inuit have not benefited enough from this country's growing prosperity.

Today's announcement is a beginning. It represents the first step I am taking to try to rectify that situation.

In addition to the $75 million increase for this year, I want to tell you that I fully intend to add an additional $100 million for economic development next year.

To move from $25 million a year to $200 million a year will be, I believe, significant progress. This will achieve a number of things:

• increase the department's investments in economic development over two years;
• focus on building capacity in the department to support increased investment;
• then, give us the opportunity to step back and evaluate if we're seeing the kind of results experts have told us we should see when we change the balance between economic development and social assistance.

I mentioned earlier that building First Nations and Inuit economies is not going to be an overnight job. It is going to require a great deal of effort, commitment, and good faith on behalf of all the players - the federal government, the provinces and territories, Aboriginal communities, and the private sector.

But I believe we have a unique opportunity to seize the day. We can make a difference, and we must make a difference. If we fail to act, all of us will continue to pay the price. But if we succeed - or should I say, when we succeed - all Canadians will share in the benefits.

Thank you.

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