Whitehorse Daily Star

CanNor plans to invest almost $5 million in northern projects

Canadian Northern Economic Development (CanNor) will invest nearly $5 million to help support Indigenous jobs and opportunities in the three territories, it was announced Sunday.

By Whitehorse Star on August 10, 2020

Canadian Northern Economic Development (CanNor) will invest nearly $5 million to help support Indigenous jobs and opportunities in the three territories, it was announced Sunday.

In the Yukon, the Selkirk Development Corp. is receiving $1,222,480 for its Minto Resort revitalization project.

The two-year project involves a further $622,020 from the First Nation and the development corporation. The total cost of the project is $1,844,500.

The funding supports improvements and additions to the Minto Resort facilities.

“This project will provide long-term financial benefits to Selkirk Development Corporation and Selkirk First Nation through an increase in overnight RV and tenting visitors, picnic users, as well as group tours and corporate retreat rentals,” the federal government said in a statement.

The Yukon First Nation Chamber of Commerce receives $43,899 for research into Yukon First Nations businesses.

There is a further $12,500 investment from the chamber. The total cost of the project is $56,399.

The chamber is leading the project to conduct research and gather baseline data on the Indigenous businesses’ economic contributions to Yukon’s economy.

This research will help to identify barriers and preconditions to business growth for Indigenous government, development corporations and Indigenous entrepreneurs, the government said.

Sunday was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, “a time to recognize the contributions of those who’ve called this land home since time immemorial,” the federal government said in a statement.

“No relationship is more important to the Government of Canada than that with Indigenous peoples, a Nation-to-Nation partnership.

“This commitment includes major investments in housing, education and health care, implementing co-developed legislation on Indigenous languages and child and family services, and introducing federal legislation on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Indigenous businesses and communities play a vital role in the northern economy across all three territories, the government added.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell, the parliamentary secretary to Mélanie Joly, the minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and the minister responsible for CanNor, made Sunday’s announcement.

The CanNor funding supports 11 initiatives led by Indigenous communities, businesses and organizations in Nunavut, Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

“It will create good, local jobs in Indigenous communities, most notably by helping to study the socio-economic impacts of the Nunavut commercial fishing industry, by promoting Indigenous business growth and expansion, by investing in capacity building and key economic infrastructure, and by supporting the reclamation and remediation of Giant Mine,” the government said.

“True reconciliation means supporting Indigenous communities and businesses by providing opportunities for their success,” Joly said.

“This investment from CanNor will do just that – helping Indigenous businesspeople to seize opportunities, helping Indigenous organizations deliver important local projects and supporting Indigenous communities on their path to self-sufficiency and prosperity.

“I’m excited to see the difference that this investment will make for Indigenous communities across the territories,” Joly added.

“To help kick-start the northern economy, our government is making strategic investments to help communities and businesses capitalize on economic development and growth opportunities,” Bagnell added.

“Indigenous small- and medium-sized businesses exemplify the ingenuity and drive that is at the core of the entrepreneurial spirit in Canada’s territories.”

Comments (8)

Up 12 Down 2

Josey Wales on Aug 13, 2020 at 11:12 am

Hey YukonMax...me again...geez...I was keeping a tally up to about a year back, but got off track with the EPIC
EEEEEEEPIC pander doling.
Another giant wad blown, add this to the racist pile of pandering unaccountable funding.

For those actual struggling natives, look to your leaders and their minions of administrators (bottom feeding opportunists feeding off engineered misery).
Poverty among the natives, absolutely there IS.
Decades of dump truck B trains, a pipeline, of cash from Ottawa...and still claim oppression and lack of funding?

The LPC and YLP will assure the reservation always has subjects to lord over.
Seems your leadership is cool with it too, despite the optics of concern for generations ahead.

As of Wednesday, via Marc Miller (with our cash and generations ahead in debit to LPC virtue) add ANOTHER THREE HUNDRED & FIVE..unaccountable....Million dollars.
Absolutely chunk spewing disgusting, this "philosophy" of victim hood and alleged oppression.

Up 12 Down 2

Josey Wales on Aug 12, 2020 at 12:18 pm

YukonMax...gotta say, that is quite a comprehensive list.
the one "ist" that applies here, for your participation...realist.

Up 26 Down 1

YukonMax on Aug 12, 2020 at 7:13 am

Already Existing First Nation Funding Programs.

• Assisted Living Program
• Band Support Funding
• Capital Facilities and Maintenance Program
• Circuit Rider Training Program
• Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program
• Climate Change Preparedness in the North Program
• Community Opportunity Readiness
• Contaminated Sites Management Program
• Education Partnerships Program
• Elementary and Secondary Education Program
• Emergency Management Assistance Program
• Employee Benefits
• Family Violence Prevention Program
• First Nation Adapt Program
• First Nation and Inuit Cultural Education Centres Program
• First Nation Infrastructure Fund
• First Nation On-Reserve Housing Program
• First Nation Student Success Program
• First Nations and Inuit Skills Link Program
• First Nations and Inuit Summer Work Experience Program
• First Nations Child and Family Services Program
• First Nations Land Management Regime
• High-Cost Special Education Program
• Housing Subsidy Program in British Columbia
• On-reserve Income Assistance Program
• Indigenous Representative Organizations - Basic organizational capacity funding
• Indigenous Community-Based Climate Monitoring Program
• Inuit Cultural Education Centres Grant Program
• Lands and Economic Development Services Program
• Nation Rebuilding Program
• New Approach for Housing Support in British Columbia
• New Paths for Education Program
• Northern Contaminants Program
• Northern Contaminated Sites Program
• Northern Participant Funding Program
• Northern Responsible Energy Approach for Community Heat and Electricity Program
• Nutrition North Canada
• Post-Secondary Partnerships Program
• Post-Secondary Student Support Program
• Professional and Institutional Development Program
• Reserve Lands and Environment Management Program
• Specific Claims Tribunal of Canada funding
• Strategic Partnerships Initiative
• Tribal Council Funding
• University and College Entrance Preparation Program
And now...$5 millions more.

Up 14 Down 0

Oya on Aug 11, 2020 at 2:20 pm

Interesting how this story and these comments got relegated to the back pages so fast.

Up 27 Down 5

JC on Aug 11, 2020 at 10:53 am

Kicksleder: I totally agree, so I guess that makes us both racists. I am not even sure what that word means anymore. I suppose it means anyone with an opposing opinion to the woke crowd.

Up 27 Down 5

Josey Wales on Aug 10, 2020 at 7:46 pm

What a shame...Canadians funding racism from cradle to grave, generation after generation.
Equity is assurances of outcome...NOT I repeat NOT opportunity.
There are a lot more folks living in the north than just the cultural elites.

There has been dump trucks of cash delivered to the elites for decades now, zero accountability for a cent.
...pander mania indeed via this planneddemic.

Up 28 Down 2

Groucho d'North on Aug 10, 2020 at 4:05 pm

At what point do Affirmative Action programs become racist? Are they regarded the same after the next election? Does calling them Reconciliation programs make any difference? Are there funding guidelines in place or is the government just making it up as they bumble along?

Up 50 Down 13

Kicksledder on Aug 10, 2020 at 2:23 pm

Right. Let's invest our CANADIAN tax dollars in an entity that is not open to the general public. There is no tenting available to the general public at Minto that I am aware of; there is no RV parking available to the traveling public at Minto that I am aware of; Minto Resorts is open ONLY to bus tours (of course not in 2020) and members of Selkirk First Nation.
When do these self-governing First Nations start paying their own way with taxes THEY generate themselves? Why are Canadian tax dollars (meant for ALL Canadians) paying for exclusive FN situations?
Please.... Before anyone beats me up for being racist, I am all for FNs making money, starting businesses, governing themselves. Chief Clarence Louis is my idol. But why do all other Canadians have to keep paying for their initiatives?
I have to wonder just what exactly "self-governing" means? Does it mean FNs get to call all the shots and get all the available money with no reciprocal responsibilities to make it on their own? I'm seriously asking as I really don't understand what it means.
When a teenager moves out from his parents' house and takes on his own self-governance, is the parent still expected to financially support that teenager forever? In my mind, moving out (self-governance) comes with the responsibility to fend for yourself (not to suggest I wouldn't help my kids out if needed). When does it stop? When the teenager is 50 years old? Ever?
Did Chief Louis get all these million-dollar grants to get to where they are at now (which is a small, very successful and lucrative FN)?
It's especially hard to swallow when one knows the FN members don't have to pay rent for the houses they live in, don't pay for repairs, don't pay for services like water delivery, etc. Where can I find such a sweet deal?

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