Digital Trade / Services and the Indigenous Opportunity

1. Digital Trade / Services and the IndigenousOpportunity Digital Trade / Services and the Indigenous Opportunity TheCovidpandemicchangedthewaywework.Theworkfromhomerevolutionproved thatemployerscouldsavemoney,accessamoreproductiveworkforceandmost importantlyitprovedthattheycouldaccesshumancapitalanywhereinthecountry.The remoteworkforcehas andwill impactthevalue ofdigital tradein Canada.

2. PlatformslikeITFCthatcreatesanenvironmentforIndigenousserviceprovidersto engage and create economy contributing to the overall value of digital trade as a componentof the Canadian Economy. ThoughthereisaframeworkestablishedbytheOEDC, WTOandIMFtomeasurethe economic value of digital trade, they readily admit that there is no clear definition and thusit makes it hard to effectively measure. AccordingtoarecentpublicationoftheConferenceBoardofCanadaoneofthekey findingsof the mostrecent research isas follows: Digital Trade Is Not Just A Simple Substitution To Conventional Means Of Goods AndServices Delivery. ItAlsoRepresentsANewSourceOfInnovation,Creativity AndEconomic Growth. How can Canada’s Indigenous community benefit frommovement? EnhancingthedigitalcapacityofIndigenouspeopleinnorthernorremotecommunities by providing the internet and broadband infrastructure is the first step. The Canadian government has invested almost 1.5 billion dollars in Telesat Lightspeed that would bringinternet, LTE and5G to remotecommunities. (https://blog.itstimeforchange.ca/leo-is-out-of-this-world/)Thiskindofinvestmentwillgo along way in providing the confidence that employers will need to engage and mobilize anIndigenous remote workforce. The opportunities for Indigenous peoples in remote areas of Canada are limitless. The abilitytodelivershortmodularcourses,nowreferredtoas“Micro-Credentials”overthe internet can prepare underemployed individuals for emerging opportunities resulting from new collaborations with government, the private sector and Indigenous communities. Inplatformsharingopportunities,likethoseavailabletoIndigenousserviceproviders on the ITFC inclusion platform provide opportunities for personal and professional growththat were not availablebefore.

3. TheNominalGDPassociatedwithdigitaleconomicactivitiesinCanadatotaled$109.7 billionin2017,roughly5.5% ofthetotaleconomyorthe sizeofthewholesale industry. Thatwas2017,themostrecentstudy,imaginewhatitistoday!Ifweasacountryare movingtowardsanewrelationshipwithIndigenouspeopleandarecommittedto inclusionandengagement,DigitalTrade hastobeapartofthediscussion.Itmuststart withthepolicy makersand industryassociations andbusinessleaders. ItsTime forChange!