Finding the aboriginality in economics

Building strong economies while preserving values and traditions is a delicate line to walk for First Nations communities.

James Hopkins is very aware of that fact and expects to keep it front and centre when he assumes his new role as national chair of aboriginal economic development at the University of Victoria in July 2009.

While growing up in Quebec in a Métis family, Hopkins watched as the local logging industry that sustained his community was bought by multinationals and later closed. Families had no choice but to leave.

"I went from watching beaver pelts dry inside my uncle's garage and watching my cousin cure the skins to going to finish high school in the west end of Ottawa," he said from Tucson, Ariz. "Communities really need to be able to make decisions with their eyes wide open as to the nature of the industry that they're getting involved with."

Economic success doesn't mean abandoning traditional ways of life, said Hopkins. "They are complementary, however you measure it. People are getting jobs. They're able to stay in the community."

The chair position at UVic is the first of its kind in Canada. Hopkins, who has a masters degree in law from Harvard and has taught Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy at the University of Arizona since 2000, will join a team of experts in aboriginal law and business.

The arrival of the new chair will create many opportunities for collaboration between the two departments, said John Borrows, who holds the law foundation professorship in aboriginal justice and governance. He plans to work with Hopkins to ensure community values are considered as economic development is discussed.

Decision-making within a company is often hierarchical, whereas it might be shared in aboriginal communities, Borrows added.

The profit motive is also less important, said Ana Maria Peredo, a UVic's faculty of business professor who has worked with aboriginal communities from the Arctic to South America. Aboriginal business may also be driven by social, cultural and even political goals, she added.

Social-enterprise is a realm of business that has yet to be recognized outside academia, Peredo said. "This is a totally new area. We need to have legislation (that recognizes it)."

The law inevitably enters the picture, said Hopkins, since a legal framework is required to guarantee the rights and restrictions of aboriginal people as a collective group.

For instance, the Indian Act generally prevents band councils from creating and running their own public corporations, such as waterworks companies. Instead, band members are left to incorporate under provincial law, he explained.

The problem is, it's a private company, said Hopkins. "It loses its Indianness. There's no aboriginality in doing that."

rholmen@saanichnews.com

An Island case study in success

Economic independence is possible, says Chief Judith Sayers of the Hupacasath First Nation, and she's well on her way to proving it.

Under her leadership the past seven years, life has been transformed on her reserve near Port Alberni through the development of several economic ventures.

The Hupacasath have launched and helped operate a 400-hectare woodlot, a tourism and gift shop and a $14 million power project which supplies electricity to as many as 6,000 homes.

Next up, the band expects to open a Hupacasath interpretive centre, a $10 million aggregates quarry and two more purchasing agreements with B.C. Hydro.

"It's built a lot of pride, but it's also put in place hope that things can change," Sayers said.

Her goal is to eventually employ far more than the band's 265 members.

"We've been too dependent on the federal government for too long," she said. "We just don't have enough money to be financing what we need in our communities. I'm always saying no to our youth on sports and education and other things they'd like."

While it's still a ways away, Sayers wants her Nation to be an economic powerhouse to level the playing field during land negotiations with government.

"If we have money behind us, then people are going to start listening to us a lot more than they do now," she said.

In conducting business, Sayers said she tries to incorporate elements of a traditional business model and the traditions of her people.

While the reserve's companies are run by directors and CEOs, she also tries to consult with the Hupacasath community, maintain their environmental values and perform the traditional rituals of blessing where appropriate.

"You hear a lot of people saying, 'well you know, the chief and council negotiated this deal with the mining company or the forestry company and we didn''t like it,'" she said. "You just don't want to make those mistakes. You need to find a process that is inclusive of the people, but doesn't drag you down at the same time."