First Nations across the country need to develop plans to keep local money at home and prevent economic leakage to nearby communities, says a recent study.

The study was done by Vancouver-based accounting firma Myers Norris Penny for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in Quebec.

MNP Manager of Aboriginal Consulting Travis Seymour says the main goal of the study was to find out where families do most of their shopping.

“For example groceries, a typical family in Akwesasne, of all of the groceries they purchase, how much of it do they purchase from a retailer on-reserve or which is off-reserve,” he says.

Seymour says the study also looked at areas besides consumer spending.

“We also looked at spending by the local government which is probably one of the biggest contributors to our local economy because they get transfer funding from the government and all of these programs and services, they employ a lot of people, and their the group we looked at was actual local businesses.”

He says many First Nations communities are experiencing a “trade imbalance” because money is being lost to outside communities.

Seymour adds similar economic leakage studies are also being done with First Nations communities in Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.