A First Nations chief from British Columbia says his community is almost completely self-governed and Saskatchewan bands could do the same.
Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie made a presentation Thursday morning at the second annual Indigenous Economic Partnership Summit in Lloydminster.
Westbank is located near Kelowna.
During his presentation, Chief Louie shared the history of the Westbank people and how they have been economically successful.
H says 82 per cent of the band’s annual budget is self-generated and they hope to one day make this 100 per cent.
“We want to be totally independent and recognized as such,” he says. “We have some negotiations to finalize and we intend to complete that… there will not be a penny given to WFN from the federal government, we give money to them and that’s how we want to operate in the future.”
Through self-governance and generating their own revenue, WFN has been able to develop several capital projects in the community.
Chief Louie also says through self-governance the band has been able to grow in several areas including cultural awareness.
“I always want to say how important cultural awareness is, not only for First Nation but for non-First Nations as well and it is something that every community has to work on all the time.”
The economic summit runs until Friday.