NEDP nailed

Page 1

The Native Economic Developent Program (NEDP) has come under a stinging attack from one of its own board members, who says the program is riddled with problems.

Charging that the program's processing rate for business proposals has been"nothing less than scandalous" and that many proposals go into a "black hole," NEDP board member Muriel Stanley-Venne says there has to be a lot of changes made in the program.

"There is a possibility of a mass resignation of the advisory board," she warns, if some of these changes are not implemented soon.

"If they (NEDP) can't deliver the goods and can't live up to what they've said, then they might as well close up shop, go home and forget it," she said in an interview this week. The program is losing credibility with such actions as the full-page open letter addressed to the prime minister from the Yukon Indian Development Corp. which said that minister for small businesses, Andre Bissonnette, had delayed their $7 million business proposal, said Stanley-Venne.

The proposal had been submitted to the NEDP two years ago but was rejected four days after the letter had appeared in the Ottawa Citizen March 4.

"Even though the letter was directed to the minister it still has terrible implications against the board itself," said Stanley-Venne. "The board approved that proposal in 1984 and it sat on the minister's desk."

Stanley-Venne, who is also president of the Settlement Sonniyaw Corporation, says she can speak from her own bitter experience with the NEDP, as her organization submitted a proposal to the program.

"We submitted it in May last year, and although I am a member of the board and not as an official with the corporation. This information was also deemed "confidential."

"That was absolutely ridiculous," she says. "It makes things not only appear sneaky, but as if they are trying to pull something."

The NEDP was formed in 1983 and given a mandate of four years. This was

later increased by one year by the federal conservative party after they gained power in September 1984.

The program was awarded $345 million to distribute to worthy Native business ventures all across Canada. However, the largest figures indicate that only $10 million has been distributed, although $50 million has been committed.

Stanley-Venne says this is a very poor record of achievement but points out that in many respects the government has tied the hands of the program.

"There has been a reluctance by the government to let them go ahead and do things. One encouraging sign is that the minister has promised that the advisory board can approve $100,000 projects, without question."

However, the question of interim funding, which Stanley-Venne says is critical to any new business venture, has not been addressed.

"This is very important, because without this they are just opening the doors and then closing them."

Despite the problems with the program, Stanley-Venne says she is determined to influence the board to make the necessary changes.

She also welcomes the new initiative by the department of Indians Affairs to work closer with the program and hopes that a way around the problem of being unable to fund traditional Native occupations such as hunting, trapping and fishing will be found.

"They (NEDP) tried to make us all into bankers in two years. You can't ask people who have no business experience to jump a hurdle of 50 years/experience," she says. Despite the criticism of the program,. Stanley-Venne says she joined the board in an effort to make changes to influence the right people.

"I was certainly not a partisan appointment" she laughs. "I feel this is a chance to solve some of those programs and we have to do it right."