Indigenous business COVID-19 taskforce and database: Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs—June 19, 2020
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Key messages
- National Indigenous business and economic development organizations have formed a taskforce to facilitate the participation of Indigenous businesses in federal procurement related to COVID-19 and to support Indigenous businesses and communities during the pandemic. To help achieve these goals, the taskforce is supported by the Government of Canada through financial support from Indigenous Services Canada and practical assistance in procurement from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
- The taskforce is creating a database of Indigenous companies who can provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to governments, both federal and Indigenous. The database is an unprecedented collaboration between national Indigenous business and economic development organizations, which is being made available to the Government of Canada
- PSPC will seek to leverage the database to increase the participation of Indigenous businesses in federal procurement. The department will promote the database to Government of Canada buyers and procurement officers for consideration when procuring personal protective equipment
- The taskforce is also conducting studies of the impact of the pandemic and associated economic pressures on Indigenous businesses and of the impact on Indigenous communities
Background
Recognizing the potential impacts of COVID-19, national Indigenous business and economic development organizations, with support from the Government of Canada (Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)), created the Indigenous business COVID-19 taskforce. The following statement is directly from the taskforce charter document:
- “The Indigenous business COVID-19 taskforce will bring together the leadership of Indigenous business organizations to provide the Government of Canada with a single, unified Indigenous voice during this time of crisis. The taskforce will provide the Government of Canada strategic input and advice on 2 primary topics:
- identifying, engaging and mobilizing the Indigenous supply chain so that it can participate and contribute to the “call to action” for much needed medical supplies and equipment
- analysis on how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting Indigenous businesses and communities across the country to ensure the Government of Canada can provide adequate support measures equivalent to those provided to the rest of the Canadian economy”
Taskforce membership:
- Assembly of First Nations—Judy Whiteduck and Karen Hunter
- Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO)—Keith Matthew, Paul Macedo, Ray Wanuch and Svitlana Konoval
- Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)—Tabatha Bull and Samantha Morton
- Imagination Group—Marie Delorme
- Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK)—Terry Ma
- Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC)—Keith Henry
- National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) —Mark Dokis
- National Indigenous Economic Development Board (NIEDB)—Dawn Madahbee Leach
- Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada—Christine Lund and Lema Ijtemaye
- Acosys Consulting—David Acco and Matthew Ivis
- Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)—Christopher Cornish, John Giraldez and Mohan Denetto
- PSPC: Support to the taskforce, invited as a non-voting-member—John Johnstone (Office of Small and Medium Enterprises)
Database
A key element of the taskforce’s mandate was to develop an Indigenous supplier directory (database) to provide a single verified source of contact for Indigenous businesses from across Canada that may have goods or services that can assist with Canada’s and Indigenous communities’ response to, and recovery from, the COVID-19 pandemic.
The database is an unprecedented collaboration between national Indigenous business support organizations and contains verified Indigenous supplier data sources from the following organizations:
- Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)
- National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA)
- Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK)
- Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada
- Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC)
- Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO)
- Indigenous Services Canada (Indigenous business directory)
The database is the property of the taskforce and the data is the property of the individual partnering organizations. The taskforce will determine how the data is shared and determine the duration of the project.
The database project is being managed by Acosys, a Canadian Indigenous company based in Montreal and listed in the federal Indigenous business directory. The database development is being done by SADA (a non-Indigenous company) specializing in the Google platform used.
Funding for the database has been provided by ISC. The Google Cloud platform has been provided by Alphabet Inc. (Google) as an in-kind support.
The collaboration between the taskforce partners and the development of this national Indigenous supplier database for COVID-19 has provided an important “sandbox” pilot opportunity to identify best practices for future Indigenous supplier database designs.
The database incorporates many of the best practices from Australia’s Indigenous Procurement Policy and the development of the supply nation Indigenous supplier directory.
The database is considered to be very scalable using a Google Cloud platform architecture and can communicate with PSPC’s electronic procurement solution’s Ariba platform for consideration at a later time.
Once the database has been approved for circulation by the taskforce, it will be actively promoted by the taskforce, in partnership with PSPC’s Office of Small and Medium Enterprises and ISC’s Business Development Branch to ensure that relevant organizations are included.
The intention is for the database to be promoted to Government of Canada buyers, procurement officers, and operational teams for consideration when purchasing personal protective equipment. The information will be shared using a collaborative effort by the taskforce, PSPC, and ISC during the COVID-19 response and recovery.
This database may also be used by other levels of government that require similar goods and services to respond to local COVID-19 requirements to increase the participation of Indigenous businesses at their discretion.
Studies
The taskforce is undertaking 2 studies to assess the impacts of COVID-19. The first is of the impact on Indigenous businesses, and the second focuses on the impact on Indigenous communities.
CCAB has completed an Indigenous business survey with input from across Canada. Over 800 responses were received and CCAB is finalizing its analysis of the results for circulation to the taskforce members.
A second survey to assess the overall impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous communities is now being prepared for release by CCAB.
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