Close X
Friday, January 10, 2025
ADVT 
National

Finance Minister Talks First Nations Investment During Vancouver Visit

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Apr, 2016 11:16 AM
    VANCOUVER — Canada's finance minister has wrapped up a visit to the West Coast by stressing the importance of the Liberal government's investments in indigenous peoples across the country.
     
    In a speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Wednesday, Bill Morneau repeatedly used the term "completely unacceptable" to describe the prevalence of unclean drinking water on First Nations reserves, and the poor education opportunities and low labour force-participation rates of indigenous people in Canada.
     
    Morneau said the federal government's move to invest $8.4 billion in the country's aboriginal population over the next five years will profoundly change the situation for what he described as the fastest-growing segment of the Canadian population.
     
    "This is about better graduation rates, more opportunity, better workforce participation," he told a sold-out crowd in downtown Vancouver.
     
    Morneau emphasized the importance of strategic investments in addressing the imminent predicament posed by Canada's aging labour force.
     
    "We're facing a real challenge in this country with demographics," he said. "So if we can in any way increase workforce participation, that helps us to deal with that very real challenge."
     
    The minister's comments come a day after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a damning report ordering Ottawa to take immediate action to ensure First Nations children can access necessary services without getting caught in red tape.
     
     
    In a landmark ruling in January, the tribunal ordered Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to remove restrictions on child-welfare rules that complicate how First Nations youth receive crucial services.
     
    "We want to make a real difference in the possibility of education for indigenous people in this country. We're going to need to work together to do that," Morneau said on Wednesday.
     
    "And we know we need to start in that with a sense of mutual respect in our dealings."
     
    Morneau pointed to a $3.5-billion investment announced in budget 2016 for indigenous education, which is broken down into $2.6 billion for developing programing and $900 million for building infrastructure.
     
    That's in addition to the $2 billion earmarked for combating boil-water advisories in First Nations communities across the country.
     
    "We want to know that there's no child in this country that doesn't have access to clean drinking water," he said. "That's something that we're going to achieve."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Man Pleads Gilty To Manslaughter In Stabbing Outside Abbotsford Gas Station

    Man Pleads Gilty To Manslaughter In Stabbing Outside Abbotsford Gas Station
    The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says 30-year-old Thavone Junior Carlson has been sentenced to five years in prison and three years of probation.

    Man Pleads Gilty To Manslaughter In Stabbing Outside Abbotsford Gas Station

    Hit-And-Run Collision On Vancouver's West Side Leaves Skateboarder Dead

    Hit-And-Run Collision On Vancouver's West Side Leaves Skateboarder Dead
    Two men were skateboarding on the west side of the city (near Heather Street and West 54th Avenue) when one was struck by a car.

    Hit-And-Run Collision On Vancouver's West Side Leaves Skateboarder Dead

    B.C. Rally Held Against Changes To Rules Named For Killed Gas Station Attendant

    B.C. Rally Held Against Changes To Rules Named For Killed Gas Station Attendant
    Doug De Patie says WorkSafe B.C. opened the door to unsafe conditions for workers in 2012 when it amended a set of rules known as Grant's Law, named after his son Grant De Patie.

    B.C. Rally Held Against Changes To Rules Named For Killed Gas Station Attendant

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit
    Toronto Zoo officials are investigating after a video surfaced that shows a woman jumping over the first of two fences that separate zoo-goers from Sumatran tigers.

    Watch: Toronto Zoo Investigating Video That Shows Woman Hopping First Of Two Fences At Tiger Exhibit

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says
    ATTAWAPISKAT, Ont. — The chief of a remote northern Ontario First Nation that declared a state of emergency on April 9 says more young people have attempted to take their lives.

    5 More Attawapiskat Kids Attempted Suicide On Friday Evening, Chief Says

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students
    Her late mother, Ann Kazimirski, was a Holocaust survivor who championed the cause until her death 10 years ago.

    Group Wants Better Education About Genocide For Canadian High-School Students