A little earlier, Riel and Darcy and I had the pleasure of meeting inspiring students who are learning about robotics, virtual care, technology, and so many other innovative things that are making them the leaders of today and tomorrow for right here in their community, but also to impact communities across the country.

SIIT is a First Nations-governed educational institution that gives people the tools they need to succeed in an environment where they feel supported. This is what Budget 24 is all about, making sure everyone has what they need to succeed. We’re investing in housing, technology, health care, child care, small businesses and school food.

Our budget this year is a plan to give everyone a fair chance to succeed, including Indigenous peoples. Today, we’re here to highlight our measures that will support First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across the country, measures for health care, education, housing and economic opportunities.

And out of all of those, let’s start with health care. Everyone in this country deserves to have equitable, safe, and culturally appropriate health care. We know that remote communities face even greater challenges when it comes to accessing care, so we need to do more to fix this. This is why we will build and renovate more health centres on reserve with an investment of over $390 million. This funding will also improve the safety of primary care workers in remote and isolated First Nations communities. 

Riel, we’re excited to be here today announcing funding to support the Virtual Health Hub led by SIIT with an investment of $21 million. The health gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is unacceptable, and we’ll be there to support initiatives that will close it, like the Virtual Health Hub that will be deployed at Whitecap Dakota First Nation. Of course, what we’re announcing today is on top of the other investments we’re making in health care across the country, including with a strong focus on mental health supports.

A big part of our work to close gaps in health care and in other areas is education. We will increase access to post-secondary education with an investment of nearly $243 million. Since 2016, there’s been close to a 50% increase of Indigenous peoples who have a post-secondary degree. For First Nations, that number is now over 60%. That means that more people are now employed in their communities, providing crucial services at home and in cities throughout the country.

The support we provide to the next generation of Indigenous students for university, college or post-secondary studies will help create a more promising future not just for Indigenous peoples, but for everyone. 

For everyone to succeed, we need more housing as well, right across the country, including and especially in Indigenous communities. So, to support the building of homes and infrastructure in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, we’ll invest over $1 billion, and that’s on top of the $5 billion for housing and infrastructure that will go directly to your communities this year.

We will support the building of homes, as well as the infrastructure that communities need. For example, water treatment plants and reliable roads to remote communities are needed to be able to build more homes, and that’s exactly what we will help build.

And finally, I want to talk about what we’re doing to create jobs and prosperity. Indigenous peoples have always been innovators, from trading and trapping to establishing local, regional or national organizations to bring in further investments to their communities. Indigenous nations need to be able to share in the benefits of natural resource and energy projects in their territories and on their own terms. And we know, unfortunately, there are fewer options for securing capital, leading to increased borrowing rates that create a barrier to equity investment. 

Well, we’re going to change that with the new Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program. This program will offer up to $5 billion in loan guarantees to make sure Indigenous communities can share in the benefits of natural resource and energy projects in their territories. 

The Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program will support their priorities and create new economic opportunities. This program will help reduce the number of people who live in low-income households, results that will add to the improvements we’ve seen since 2015. And on top of that, we will invest $388 million to support Indigenous entrepreneurs and tourism, and to create opportunities in clean energy. Good jobs and a fair chance to succeed for everyone. That’s our plan.

Everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed, and when Indigenous people succeed, it means that Canada succeeds.