Modernization

"Poverty is still the norm for most of Canada’s First Nations, despite ongoing efforts over many years to stimulate reserve economies, including significant investment by governments trying to ‘prime the economic pump’. There are, however, some good examples where the pattern has been changed and communities are breaking the chains of poverty. There are lessons to be learned from both within Canada and outside as to what can be done to alleviate poverty and stimulate economic growth.

"This book traces and analyses the recent evolution in thinking about the development of aboriginal people's communities. Since 1969, aboriginal people have set three goals for the future -- economic self-reliance, self-government, and cultural autonomy. Examples discussed in this book illustrate the central issues in economic, political and cultural development, how aboriginal people view those issues, and how they have set about solving development problems.

"The development project in both capitalist and socialist contexts has augmented the power of technocrats while invalidating alternative knowledge systems rooted in the traditions of local communities, thereby disenfranchising them. Recreating space for the autonomy of such communities requires cross-cultural communication in a collaborative effort to examine the limitations of the reductionist sciences and how they have shaped the development effort. Alternative ways of knowing and ways of sharing knowledge so as to reinforce core community values need to be explored.

"Indigenous populations throughout the world suffer from chronic poverty, lower education levels, and poor health. The "second wave" of indigenous development, after direct economic assistance from outside, lies in indigenous efforts to rebuild their "nations" and improve their lot through entrepreneurial enterprise. This paper suggests that there is a distinguishable kind of activity appropriately called "indigenous entrepreneurship". We begin by defining the indigenous population and noting some general facts about their numbers and distribution.