"Almost a decade after the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP, 1996) - an international decade dedicated by the United Nations to Indigenous People - it is timely to reflect on the state of the Aboriginal economy, on what has been achieved in Aboriginal economic development, how success is measured, and what barriers persist.
"In this article we use four Canadian Supreme Court decisions that have substantively contributed to the constitutional recognition of aboriginal rights to assess the impact that changes in the security of commercial property rights have had on long-run macroeconomic performance. We use a series of event studies to measure the extent to which each court decision had an effect on the common share prices of Canadian forestry firms.
Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy
Year of publication:
2007
"At one level, the story of Membertou First Nation is inspirational. But, this paper identifies some of the unique challenges and barriers faced by First Nations people pursuing opportunities as entrepreneurs. Challenges include issues of political stability; the need to respect the value placed upon community, conservation and sustainability by the culture the limited access to traditional sources of capital and other possible barriers.
"The purpose of the study was to field-test the First Nations Career-Life Planning Model, developed by McCormick and Amundson (1997), to determine, from participant feedback, if the model was viable, practical, and culturally appropriate. First Nations youth as well as family and community members participated in career counselling sessions and provided feedback on the model. The comments and feedback were categorised into five themes that support and suggest ways of improving the model further. Implications for practice and future research are included."
"With greater control of capital and resources, many Aboriginal people are gaining the capacity to enter into joint ventures. This is a model of economic partnership with non-Aboriginal society which has been increasingly used in recent years. This paper seeks to generate discussion by raising fundamental questions about the roles of Aboriginal people and the benefits to be derived by them."
"This paper has three objectives: (1) to give a brief description of different types of Aboriginal economies, so that the diversity and complexity of the task of achieving economic development is better understood; (2) to discuss some of the pre-conditions for rebuilding Aboriginal economies. What factors need to come together for economic development to have a good chance of success?; (3) to give an overview of the perspective and recommendations put forward by the Royal Commission in its final report on the concrete steps that need to be taken to rebuild Aboriginal economies."
"The economic history of the Micmac in Nova Scotia is detailed, and the contemporary demographic, educational and employment patterns of the population is examined closely. An overview of the four important social science theories that apply to the population is given. Policies and strategies to promote development of both on and off reserve populations are elaborated."
"Both non-aboriginal corporations and First Nation bands are recognizing the benefits of forming economic partnerships. Each First Nation is unique and economic partnerships have to be designed to fit the partners’ capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of a framework for an economic partnership between the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and the Initiatives Prince George Development Corporation. This framework was intended to offer structure, engagement, and guidance to that partnership.
"The Aboriginal peoples of Canada stand in a different legal relationship to the fisheries than non-Aboriginal Canadians. They do so by virtue of a long history with the fisheries that precedes non-Aboriginal settlement in North America, and because of the constitutional entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canadian law.
"The fishers living in Alert Bay and Ahousaht provided me with many details about how the distribution and abundance of various species had changed at and around salmon farming sites. I wanted to know how the Ahousaht's and Namgis' fishing activities had been altered by the presence of fish farms. However, the people I spoke to did not encourage questions concerning the fish farms as much as they did questions having to do with fish as food.
