The chief of the Osoyoos First Nation in BC predicts an explosion in First Nations economic growth and job creation over the next 10 years.
Chief Clarence Louie shared that message with a business audience at an economic development conference in Regina earlier today.
His First Nation is proof of how it can be done. It was bankrupt 20 years ago when he became chief. Now, on a per-capita basis. it owns more businesses and has created more jobs than any other First Nation in Canada.
Louie says relying on the federal and provincial governments will never work.
“The federal and provincial governments will never have enough money to properly fund our programs and services on our reserves. They never have and my prediction is they never will. The writing is on the wall. First Nations people have got to start making their own money and creating their own jobs.”
Louie says a handful of First Nations are doing that now. But he says over the next decade, there will be more job creation and economic growth than in the last 150 years.
He also says the federal government must allow First Nations to take back their inherent place in the economy rather than try to manage, control and administer.