By Matteo Cimellaro  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For the first time in Canada, five Indigenous economic groups are uniting to create a procurement agency to help their organizations and businesses benefit from goods and services purchased through federal contracts. The First Nations Procurement Organization (FNPO) was created to help overcome systemic barriers to accessing federal contracts and hold Ottawa accountable to ensure First Nations are truly the ones benefiting from government procurement targets. For example, Natural Resources Canada in the fiscal year 2022-23 hired Inuit-led companies to help geo-map the Arctic and contribute to the Polar Continental Shelf Program, as described in documents obtained by Canada’s National Observer through the Access to Information Act. The initiative is important because the federal government spends approximately $22 billion a year purchasing goods

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