Don't let that next opportunity pass by

Page 8

The thing about being on band council is you're expected to be an expert in everything.

Solve the housing problems on reserve, the health problems, find everybody a job, create wealth for the community.

A development proposal comes across the desk. Somebody wants to build a shopping mall, a heritage centre, a casino, and they want the band's land to do it. The questions start to fly. Is it a good deal for the people, or just a good deal for the developer? What are the risks? Does the business plan make sense? Who in this community has the right training to evaluate this proposal?

The simple truth is, most people don't have enough of the right kind of knowledge to make informed decisions on land development proposals. What ends up happening is leaders either learn by making big mistakes or they waste scarce community resources having consultants write expensive reports that end up on shelves collecting dust while the developer takes his business elsewhere.

To take the guess-work out of the land development process, Simon Fraser University has developed a new First Nations studies program in real estate leadership, business and management. The program promises to provide the tools necessary to evaluate the deals-and the deal-makers-so that decisions can be made confidently and quickly.

"It's a program intended to give First Nations, First Nations business partners and those that First Nations work with, such as financial institutions, a basic grounding in the fundamentals of development, real estate development and land development, tenure, security and those kinds of things," said Shannon Hobson, director of First Nation Initiatives in the Faculty of Business Administration with the university.

"Right now as First Nations are looking towards developing their land or trying to determine exactly what to do with their land, which is their greatest resource, these issues are coming up. We think it's really important. They think it's really important. In fact, they came to us to understand the terminology and to understand what the legal ramifications are and what their options are and all those kinds of things that have to do with their lands and making decisions."

The core course offered is a five-day primer on the issues surrounding land development and land management, including learning how to take a proactive approach to strategic planning of development and by community visioning.

Participants learn how to read and evaluate development proposals. They learn the terminology used by developers, so they can speak their language. They learn about reducing risk, providing security and building trusting relationships.

A part of one day is devoted to learning to work with the communities adjacent to reserve land so there can be shared growth and benefit to Native and non-Native stakeholders.

"We have some municipal government specialists [providing instruction] and we talk about the fact that municipal boundaries are often the boundaries on reserve lands and, you know, traditionally there hasn't been a lot of communications back and forth," Hobson said, adding that often the municipality will grow right up to the reserve border.

"One of the big concerns is that actual development, when municipalities are giving out development permits they are not consulting with First Nations and there will be some big development right beside reserve lands."

That's when the bricks start being thrown, said David Lane, who is an instructor with the program and who believes it's better to work to understand each other's unique needs and perspectives before development tears neighboring communities apart.

Lane brought the idea of the real estate program to the university and has devoted many hours to making sure the program addresses the needs of Aboriginal people.

After 30 years of working with Aboriginal communities, he was concerned that everyone was finding benefit from on-reserve land developmen except the First Nations themselves.

So the program was developed in conjunction with area First Nations.

"The pilot was the first core program where we brought people in and we basically implemented what we had consulted with people to find out what they wanted," said Hobson. "We presented that information and we continuously checked back and asked for improvements. 'Is this what people really wanted?' and that sort of thing."

Hobson said the pilot was originally four days but "all of the people that took it told us this just has to be longer, because there is just so much information and there's so much more that people wanted to know. So now it's five days and that seems just about right. I mean it's jam-packed. People are thinking the whole time."

Lane said participants have told him it's the best money the band could have spent on leadership training.

"The cost is about $1,500 per person, which is pretty good considering it's five full days," said Hobson. "A lot of us are donating our time. It's considered to be a non-profit program and we're not making money on it. What we are trying to do is just make our costs and provide something to the community that we know is needed and has been asked for."

Requests for the program have come from northern British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Hobson says they are willing to take it on the road.

"We're actually talking to a couple of First Nations to take the whole course to their nations, which we are quite happy to do. We need about 20 students to make it viable and to us, it doesn't matter where we go to provide it. We just need to know there is that number of students so that it can be a viable program and we'll go anywhere really. And that was the whole idea behind this program is to make it as accessible as possible. Not to say, 'Well, you have to come to Vancouver to take it.' If you think you can get together, or there is a region that we can attract 20 people to, we're quite happ to do that."

But if you are willing to travel to Vancouver, the program will be run again in May.

"Now if there are requests, we'll offer it sooner," Hobson said.