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The more responsibility we have for taking care of ourselves, the less responsibility you have
The desire for economic self-sufficiency is universal in a new generation of indigenous leaders intent on managing wealth, not poverty.
Federal policy has attempted to create thriving, self-sustaining First Nations since before the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples reported 24 years ago, but this goal has often proved elusive. Achieving this will require fundamental political changes, some of which have been foreseen by the Royal Commission, such as the reconstitution of larger First Nations as political entities (the Indian Act has divided some 80 First Nations into 630 gangs, many of which are too small to provide effective self-government.)
This will not be an easy solution: many First Nations have overlapping territories and fishing rights claims, for example. Yet, Mi’kmaq have just shown that greater collaboration between bands across a nation is possible.
Indigenous leaders say their aspirations are often blocked by a lack of capital. According to the Indian Act, land cannot be used as collateral for financing. The FNFA has been useful in filling a funding gap, but its model requires that First Nations have sufficient home-grown funding.
Daniels said the FNFA is “making progress” in its negotiations with the government to leverage First Nations’ annual funding allocation on capital markets or transfer increased revenue-raising capacity to First Nations.
As Manny Jules, chief commissioner of the First Nations Tax Commission, told me, the speech to the federal government is “the more responsibility we have to take care of ourselves, the less responsibility you have.”
It is a powerful argument.
The Clearwater Agreement suggests that whatever is holding back many First Nations, it’s not a lack of ambition.
• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: IvisonJ
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