Finance Minister talks First Nations investment during Vancouver visit
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.