Opinion: Research shows that First Nations communities alone contribute $ 17.5 billion a year to the economy. Estimates show that, with the right investment and growth, Indigenous Canadians have the potential to add an annual boost of $ 100 billion to the national economy.
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Canada recently recognized September 30 as the first National Truth and Reconciliation Day. Previously, indigenous peoples recognized it as Orange Shirt Day. The day created an opportunity to look back and forward.
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Truth is found by acknowledging the mistakes of the past and their continuing impacts on the present. Reconciliation is achieved by looking to the future. The truth can be difficult to understand, especially if you grew up in a generation where much of Canada’s history with indigenous peoples was not taught in schools.
To paraphrase the musician Gord Downey: Indigenous peoples were those people we were taught to ignore throughout our lives.
The truth regarding the economic evisceration of First Nations in this country is the story of the destruction of vibrant indigenous commercial economies prior to contact by first becoming dependent on the fur trade and then being stopped entirely by the Indian Act of 1876 .
India’s Law prevented our governance systems from evolving and blocked participation in the mainstream economy, while the rest of Canada continued to evolve and grow its governance and economy. The objective was the extinction and the denial of rights to avoid having to recognize under Canada’s own legal concepts the indigenous existence as autonomous nations with functioning economies. Indigenous peoples were prevented from obtaining a good primary education, studying at university and becoming professionals.
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The reservation pass system, which required status Indians to obtain permission from the Indian agent to leave the reservations, severely restricted, sometimes due to pressure from settler competitors, the ability to trade goods or crops. All the reserve lands were controlled and owned by the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, not the gang, and the traditional territories were taken through unfair treaties that left only reservations the size of a postage stamp. An additional measure to systematically exclude First Nations from the mainstream of the economy was to prevent them from hiring an attorney to fight these and other prohibitions. So First Nations lost the ability to develop their economies for seven generations.
Many Canadians now view First Nations as an exercise in poverty management. It shouldn’t be this way. The road to economic reconciliation begins a seven-generation journey to prosperity, including ensuring that indigenous peoples have access to properly funded STEM education and learning and that educational institutions prioritize education in business, engineering, and education. indigenous merchants.
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Business and government should focus on hiring indigenous people in business, engineering and finance, at all levels of the organization, from entry level to executive and boards.
There is a pool of indigenous talent and leadership, but according to the Government of Canada, indigenous peoples hold only 0.3 percent of board seats among the 403 corporations that disclosed information on diversity, and only 0.2 percent of seats. senior management. While indigenous peoples make up almost five percent of Canada’s total population, they are underrepresented around 20 times in leadership roles.
The governments of Canada and British Columbia passed legislation for the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2021 and 2019, respectively. Now they must develop an action plan in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples.
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The First Nations Financial Management Board (WBF) made submissions to BC’s Action Plan, asking BC to better combine the social and economic aspects of the Declaration to truly enable First Nations to exercise their rights to self-determination. There can be no forward movement without economic reconciliation, without sharing the power, control, and the right to self-determination that has held Indigenous Peoples in Canada for far too long.
What is the potential for economic reconciliation?
FMB research shows that First Nations communities alone contribute $ 17.5 billion a year to the economy. Estimates show that, with the right investment and growth, Indigenous Canadians have the potential to add an annual boost of $ 100 billion to the national economy.
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Exclusion is hurting us all. For more than a decade, Canada has seen much of its natural resource wealth blocked due to government and industry failures to work successfully in partnership with First Nations in its development. If we continue with minimal Indigenous entrepreneurship, how will industry and government manage to build successful First Nations partnerships?
Former senator and head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Murray Sinclair said reconciliation will not happen as long as one side sees it as a rights issue and the other side sees it as an act of benevolence. Reconciliation is not about benevolence, but about partnership and equality.
I call on all of British Columbia to view reconciliation as a process to better bridge social and economic disparities, and truly enable First Nations to exercise their rights to self-determination, so that all of Canada can benefit, together .
Harold Calla is Executive Chairman of the First Nations Financial Management Council and a member of the Squamish Nation with experience in international business, as a negotiator in the areas of economic development, land administration and finance.
Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. The editor of the editorial pages is Hardip Johal, who can be contacted at [email protected].
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Reference-theprovince.com