Ottawa appoints economic development boards

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An $873-million government plan to help create business opportunities and employment for Canada's Native people was put into action with the recent appointment of three aboriginal economic development boards across the country.

Tom Hockin, minister of state for small business and tourism, said the Canadian Aboriginal Economic Development (CAED) strategy will strengthen the private sector and help guide Natives towards self-efficiency.

The five-year funding arrangement, a joint effort between industry, science and technology and the department of Indian and northern affairs, is to help spark economic growth on reserves

"Progress is being made. One Sept.1, five new aboriginal economic program offices opened, bringing the total to nine across the country where aboriginal entrepreneurs can seek support and development assistance for their business initiatives," he said.

"A number of projects have already come forward and today we have completed another key step in extending the reach of this program by confirming the membership of the boards.

A national board, which will include western regional chairman Leo Hardy, is being set up to make recommendations for business proposals and help Native business people receive financial assistance.

Hardy, president of Norwel Developments Ltd. in Kelowna B.B., will be joined on the 13-member western board by Harley Frank, general manager of the Alberta Indian Agriculture Development Corp. in Calgary.

An eastern board has also been named to include representatives from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Labrador.

CAED, which was first announced last year by Hockin during a news conference on Sarcee reserve near Calgary, came under fire by Siksika Nation Chief Strater Crowfoot, who suggested CAED was another attempt by Ottawa to assimilate Indians into mainstream society.

"I like the program," he said. "But it seems like another step to the Buffalo Jump of the 1980s."

The Buffalo Jump was a term coined by an Indian affairs official to describe the 1985 Neilson Task Force report which directed government policy in dealing with Native people.

Native leaders have viewed the policy, which outlines self-determination initiatives, as Ottawa's way of reducing federal expenditures on Indian programs and limiting the treaty rights of First Nations.

Federal officials maintain CAED will give Native people greater access to capital to start businesses and to create jobs on reserves.

The main focus of CAED will be to:

Secure productive work and higher income,

Enhance self-reliance by building institutional capacity and individual skills for economic development,

Expand the business base through wholly-owned corporations and joint ventures,

Identify and exploit the diverse development opportunities to be found in isolated, rural and urban settings and

Increase participation in the urban wage economy.