First Nations Finance Authority – has hit an historic milestone by breaking through the one-billion-dollar mark in financing for First Nations. “Working with Indigenous communities, we are beginning to see real results in addressing the huge infrastructure gap between First Nations and the rest of Canada,” said Ernie Daniels, President and CEO of the First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA). “The projects we are financing are helping to bring fresh water, better health care, green energy projects and modern infrastructure to First Nations that have created jobs and are building the Indigenous economy.”
115 First Nations have become borrowing members of the FNFA. This has created over ten thousand jobs in the past five years while making strides in building an Indigenous economy aimed at lifting communities out of poverty. The $1 billion dollars in loans provided by the FNFA to date to First Nations does not include the $250 million loan commitment to the Mi’kmaq First Nations Coalition to purchase offshore fishing licenses as part of the announced purchase of Clearwater Seafoods.
The FNFA is a not-for-profit First Nation institution that plays a crucial role in the social and economic development of First Nations across Canada by providing qualifying First Nations with access to the capital markets at competitive rates. Established by the federal First Nations Fiscal Management Act in 2005, FNFA is by First Nations, for First Nations.