Some good news relating to what the Indigenous community does for the city of North Bay.
On the heels of National Indigenous Peoples Day, a report was released today which shows some significant stats involving the Indigenous population in the North Bay area and their economic contribution.
The economic impact study reveals that the 8,000 Indigenous people within the area contribute more than $250 million to the community.
"You also see a very significant amount of money contributed to the economy through the Indigenous community and it would be in the neighborhood of 260 million dollars," Dr. Mike DeGagne, Reconciliation North Bay Chair, told Rogers Radio.
"I think as a reference point you might say that would be larger than the Nipissing University and Canadore College contributions combined," he says.
DeGagne, who is also the Nipissing University President, says the idea of this study came through the Truth and Reconciliation process.
"There have been some milestones over the past couple of years one of those was the report from the Truth and Reconciliation commission, talked about reconciliation in Canada and it talked about Canadians gaining a greater uderstanding of how much Indigenous people contribute to their community and the community generally," DeGagne explained.
"This is a follow up on that to see how much the Indigenous community of North Bay is contributing to both the economy and the culture and society generally."
DeGagne expects this will be the first local report of many to come.