Youth

“The Young Millionaires Program is a summer business and entrepreneurship program for youth aged 8 to 16 years. The program is designed to assist youth to discover more about the world of business and help them get started in a business of their own.”

"This paper adds to our knowledge base, by: (1) describing the prevailing views on Aboriginal small business and entrepreneurship; (2) defining small business and entrepreneurship in general terms; (3) describing the current state of First Nation entrepreneurship and small business 
development in Canada; (4) listing and discussing some of the challenges that First Nation small business owners and 
entrepreneurs in Canada face, and providing ideas and avenues for the enhanced support 
and promotion of those entrepreneurs thinking about starting a small business; and (5) highlighting and dis

“While the growth of Aboriginal organizations over the past two decades, “has had both a political and social [and economic] impact on Canadian society…. little has been written about these organizations and the role they have played in the development of Canada.” To remedy this situation, a number of analysts, research institutions, and community managers and leaders have started to piece together a useful picture of the history, development, growth, and the day-to-day operation of these organizations.”

"Using data from the 1996 Census and the 1991 Census-based Aboriginal Peoples Survey, this report compares the job situation of Aboriginal people to that of the general population. The Aboriginal identity population (i.e., people who see themselves as Aboriginal) grew by 33 percent between 1991 and 1996, as opposed to just 6 percent for the non-Aboriginal population. Much of this growth is the result of the very "young" age profile of the Aboriginal population. In 1996, 35 percent of the Aboriginal identity population was under 15, compared to 20 percent for the whole population.

"The purpose of this study was to understand how urban-residing Aboriginal adolescent-parent dyads (n = 11) jointly constructed and acted on goals and strategies with their social supports (n = 17) to facilitate the adolescents' career development. A modified protocol following the qualitative action-project method was used. A discrete joint project was identified for each family.

"The start-up and the first in a series of training programs designed to enable youth to start or expand businesses in discussed. The funding for the program was obtained by Kahanawake with an investment from the Department of Industry Canada designed to help youth develop their own businesses through debt financing. Thirteen people completed the course and six loan applications - supported by business plans - were submitted. Five of the loans were approved; and after one and a half years all five businesses are operating.

"One of the significant findings was that entrepreneurship was a career choice selected by man of the youth. This was particularly interesting when taken in the context that Native entrepreneurship (per capita) is lower than those in the rest of North America. Another finding was that Native High Schools provide little, if any, entrepreneurial training or exposure to entrepreneurship as a career choice.

"Indian” policy in Canada has been historically based on the objective of assimilating the Indigenous population. There has been recent movement to create policies that support First Nations’ self-governance, yet, the Indian Act and its related policies have not been amended to reflect this change. Thus federal policy now hovers between the two conflicting objectives. The result is chronic poverty in First Nations, a worsening problem that has stymied federal policymakers."

"Investigating the earnings and income disparity faced by Aboriginal people in Canada from 1995 to 2005, we find that Aboriginal people face substantial income and earnings gaps in comparison with Canadian-born majority-group workers with similar characteristics (such as age and education). The estimated gaps are large: about 10 to 20 percent for women and 20 to 50 percent for men. However, these gaps eroded somewhat over 1995 to 2005.

The tools, traditions and relationships that it takes to re-build First Nations, to realize good governance, were the three key elements discussed at the Aboriginal Financial Management Association of B.C.- INAC conference on Governance and Accountability, held in Vancouver, June 10-11, 2002.