Towns depend on Indian reserves

Page 25

Indian cash is keeping dozens of small towns located near reserves alive.

"If cut off, they would not be there," said Daniel Skarlicki, director of the Center for the Advancement of Native Economics.

"The towns enjoy and depend on reserve spending."

Research shows less than 10 per cent of the millions of dollars spent by Native people for goods and services like gasoline, cars, clothes, groceries, doctors, and lawyers is spent on reserve, he said.

The rest goes into the cash registers of nearby communities, said Skarlicki, noting many bands have no stores at all.

He advised about 40 graduate university students who will work as IMAP consultants with Native bands and organizations this summer - three-quarters of them law and masters of business administration students - to "share their skills."

But bringing prosperity to reserves is a battle, he warned.

Too many "snake oil salesmen" have sold bands false quick-fix promises of jobs and development and have run off with huge profits leaving bands poorer than before, both economically and environmentally.

Short-term projects have seen forests ripped out and oil and gas fields drained by companies drilling on adjoining lands, said Skarlicki.

Economic development must take into account Indian social and political values if they are to succeed, he said.

Business and senior governments usually ignore or don't understand that Native values are different than those of the general population, he said.

Meanwhile, said Skarlicki.

Economic development must take into account Indian social and political values if they are to succeed, he said.

Business and senior governments usually ignore or don't understand that Native values are different than those of the general population, he said.

Meanwhile, said Skarlicki reserve projects are doomed to fail if they go ahead without having the over whelming support of residents.

It's not good enough to have a simple band majority approval for development, he said.

Most band economic plans are short-term because of the short terms of office a chief and council are elected to.

With elections every two or three years, Native politicians must show immediate results or face the prospect of being turned out of office, he said.

That prevents long-term planning which usually require years before major benefits are seen, said Skarlicki.

Another factor is the importance placed on families. Since band elections are usually won along family lines, elections can be won or lost by as small a margins as one ballot.

The extended Indian family places great importance on even the most distant family members instead of trained people for band jobs.

"The family comes first," said Skarlicki, citing examples of entire band administrations shutting down so all could attend the funeral of someone who, in white culture, might not even be seen as a distant relative.

It's natural for politicians at all levels - Native and non-Native - to surround themselves with people they trust, he said, but at the band council level it's done to the extreme.

Yet another stumbling block to setting up an Indian-owned private business is the Native value of sharing and working together, rather than making a profit for an individual.

The concept of profit is "unfamiliar" to Natives and causes rifts that could doom a new business venture, said Skarlicki. Natives assume profit is earned at the expense of the rest.

Skarlicki said when a band member is seen to succeed in business this often results in "jealousy." And that means band members won't deal with private Indian-owned businesses.

Still another factor is the spiritual relationship Native people have with the environment.

Hunting and fishing are important and projects which threaten the environment are usually opposed, said Skarlicki.