BREAKING: Trudeau government announces $650 million for support to indigenous communities

Speaking to the nation today during his daily coronavirus press briefing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed new funding for indigenous communities with an additional $650 million to assist both with pandemic preparedness and recovery and for broader issues.

Funding for indigenous communities

Trudeau announced an additional $650 million in funds in support of First Nation, Inuit, and Metis communities for healthcare, subsidies, and support infrastructure.

New women's shelters were announced for indigenous communities, with funding up to $85 million for this effort, which is additional to the $10 million set aside for this project in April.

This includes $250 million for health care, a boost for the "on reserve income assistance program." This will allow the continuance of assisting those communities access the support they need as well.

Contact tracing

Trudeau noted that "To help businesses reopen and get people back on the job while keeping our communities safe. Moving forward it will become even more important to identify and then isolate this virus."

This will require coordination and cooperation across Canada.

"A number of provinces have already reached out to us for support on contact tracing, and our governments are already working together on a data sharing platform. Yesterday, first ministers were briefed on the work being done by the COVID-19 immunity task force that will coordinate blood test surveys across Canada."

CERB and CEWS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answered questions about the wage subsidy. It has been reported that the wage subsidy provided has not yet enabled employers to hire as per the intent. The cost estimates show that companies are not using as much of the funding as the Trudeau administration has hoped.

"I think it demonstrates how hard this pandemic hit our economy and how many people actually found themselves without a paycheck, which is why we were glad we have the CERB, to support millions of Canadians who need help paying for groceries, paying their rent.

"But as we move forward, and businesses start to reopen, and need to get people back to work, the CEWS will become more and more =important, and that's why we continued it throughout the summer." He said that employers should both rehire those employees who lost work due to the economic shutdown, as well as hire new ones.

Hong Kong, China, and Meng Wanzhou

Trudeau was asked "how much more aggression from Beijing" it will take for Canada to "stand up to Xi Jinping, and are you afraid of him?"

In response, Trudeau offered that "We have continued to put Canadian interests and Canadian principles at the forefront of everything we do around the world including with China."

He went on to say that "We will continue to work to ensure that Canadians have the equipment that we need to get through this situation, while at the same time expressing our concern for the two Canadians arbitrarily detained in China, and continue to highlight our concerns around Hong Kong and around questions that need to be asked for the WHO. We will continue to stand up for our principles and continue to stand up for Canadians."

Long-term care homes

Trudeau spoke about the concerns regarding long-term care homes across in Ontario and Quebec.

He spoke to premiers about how to handle that situation, and said that it was "disturbing that any senior should receive that kind of treatment is unacceptable."

On this devastating issue, Trudeau said that "We need to make sure that all of our seniors everywhere across the country get the top quality service and care that they deserve, and the federal government will happily be part of those discussions as provinces lean in on this issue."

As far as the troop deployment to long-term care homes, Trudeau said that "the situation facing our seniors is extremely troubling, and as I've been saying since the very beginning the federal government will be there."

He noted that "Having soldiers in long term care homes is clearly a short term solution. We will continue to be there to work with Quebec and the other provinces."

He said that this area is a provincial area of jurisdiction, and that provinces need to get control over these homes.

When asked for specifics, he said that "the federal government will be there to help," whether it be armed forces or financial assistance.

Reopening borders

He was asked about border closures in terms of reunifications and divided families, and how to bring those families back together. This would be a conversation to be had with premiers, he said. The borders will remain closed to the end of June, as planned.

He said that this conversation would continue, as well as considerations for exceptions to the non-essential travel ban. This would be "under strict conditions" and "would not change the approach on closing the border to the end of June."

"The borders are an issue that deeply concern many provinces," he said.

Racial tensions in the US

Trudeau took a moment to address the tensions and protests that have been caused by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday.

"Many Canadians of diverse backgrounds are watching, like all Canadians are, the news out of the United States with shock and with horror. Anti-black racism, racism, is real, it's in the United States but it's also in Canada. We know people are facing systemic discrimination, unconscious bias, and anti-black racism every single day.

"We need, as a society, to stand together, to stand up against discrimination, be there for each other in respect. But also understand that we have work to do in Canada, in our systems that we need to work forward on, and I call on all Canadians...to stand together in solidarity, to be there for each other, and to know how deeply people are being affected by what we're seeing on the news these past few days.