Access to non-government funding a must

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Aboriginal enterprise needs access to funds from non-government sources if Natives are to escape from the poverty cycle, the president of the Canadian Council on Native Business said.

Establishing an Aboriginal economic development bank through the private sector is just one of eight recommendations that the council plans to present to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in June, said Patrick Lavelle.

Financing business on reserves has always been a problem because the land is held in trust by the Crown and cannot be mortgaged or offered as capital in business ventures.

"Private sector financing must exist," he said. "The central element is the establishment of an Aboriginal economic development bank which is an absolute must if we are ultimately going to break the cycle of poverty which currently exists in Aboriginal Canada."

A privately-funded, Native-managed bank would provide enough risk capital to make success and failure in the open market a reality, Lavelle said. Overhauling the Indian Act at the same time would allow Native-owned assets to be used as collateral.

"There must be the availability of capital. Aboriginal people are very entrepreneurial. The vast majority are committed to action and want to take control."

The council, which was founded in 1984 to bring Natives and non-Natives together in the private sector for their mutual benefit, also recommended that:

- the federal government should institute tax reforms to provide incentives to non-Natives to invest on reserves.

- Royalties from resources on Native land must stay in the hands of Natives.

- Natives should have access to the same venture capital and business support that the federal government offers to non-Native business.

- A fixed quotient of federal contracts should be given to Native governments.

- Outstanding land claims must be settled by the year 2000.

- Investment in Aboriginal education and training must occur to enable Native businesses to protect and share their resources and profits with each other.

The Federated Indian College in Regina is a good example of an institution that should be recognized as a post-secondary centre of excellence, Lavelle said.

"They should be given the resources to attract students and link up with other universities that teach similar courses, like the black universities do in the United States."

In a meeting held in Toronto before the Institute of Public Administration last week, the council also called upon Ottawa to make Tom Siddon the last Minister of Native Affairs.

An Aboriginal Opportunities Commission should be created to oversee the dismantling of the department and the redistribution of Indian Affairs money to the First Nations, the council said.

Submitting the recommendations to the Royal Commission next month will "obviously not do very much," Lavelle said. The burden of change will rest on the shoulders of future generations of Natives, who must work to overcome present situations of poverty and despair that exist in places like Davis Inlet, Newfoundland or Big Cove, Nova Scotia.

"It's going to take 20, 30, 40 years to turn things around. None of this is easy," he said.

Although often thwarted by prejudice and lack of interest on both sides, the council's bottom line is to see the average income, life expectancy and literacy of Aboriginals at the same level as the rest of Canada, Lavelle said.