This National Indigenous History Month, we pause to reflect on the Indigenous people who lost their lives at Residential Schools across the country. It’s a painful reckoning of our collective history and the need for continuing focus on truth and reconciliation. RBC will continue to be a bank that acts on reconciliation in genuine and meaningful ways, including through partnerships with Indigenous nations to drive economic growth and create positive social change.

In June, Canadians celebrate National Indigenous History Month to honour the history, heritage and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada. It is a chance to appreciate the strength of our First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, but also an opportunity to recognize the challenges that many of these communities continue to face. 

When it comes to the field of technology, many Indigenous communities face a digital divide, which includes lack of access to high speed internet, computers and other digital technologies. Despite the fact that the UN declared access to the internet a human right, only 24 per cent of households in Indigenous communities have access to quality, high speed internet access, versus 94 per cent of all Canadian families.