Competitive advantage of First Nations, municipal engagement
By: Martin Cash
In this era of truth and reconciliation, there is a growing and hopeful trend that is flipping past negative narratives regarding Indigenous economic development.
ATB Financial and professional services firm MNP this week released a report noting Indigenous governments, businesses and households contributed $16.76 billion to the Alberta economy in 2023, with household contributions increasing by four per cent between 2021 and 2024.
It is becoming a competitive advantage — and, in some cases, a regulatory necessity — for business enterprises to develop commercial relationships with local First Nations.
The ATB/MNP report notes disparities in income and employment opportunities, but Indigenous educational outcomes are improving across the country.
There are many different ways to approach the issue of economic reconciliation despite budgetary constraints that exist across the board.
For about 10 years, a joint venture between the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Cando (Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers) has chosen to approach the issue by connecting through the jurisdictional structures of First Nations and municipalities with a program called Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI).
It provides expertise in facilitating understanding and, hopefully, long-term co-operation between neighbouring municipalities and First Nations for the ultimate goal of economic development for the collective region.
It does not have much of a budget and demand far outstrips capacity. Since 2013, it has conducted around 20 such partnership initiatives, including two in Manitoba.
This year, the City of Portage la Prairie and Long Plain First Nation and Dakota Plains Wahpeton Nation is one of five partnerships in a Prairies-region cohort to participate in the three-year CEDI program.
Marissa Lawrence, Cando’s CEDI senior program officer for Western Canada, said the markers of success are building sustainable, respectful relationships between First Nations and municipal governments and for both institutions to learn how to work across jurisdictions.
“First Nations and municipalities have very different kinds of jurisdiction over economic development,” she said. “The goal is to find areas of overlap.”
When it comes to Portage and Long Plain, there’s all sorts of overlaps. In particular, the Keeshkeemaquah urban reserve, which the city has a municipal services agreement with.
“We’re building our relationship with Dakota Plain Wahpeton, but we have always worked with Long Plain,” said Mayor Sharilyn Knox.
Dakota Plains Chief Don Smoke said because of where it is located (south of Portage), it is challenged to generate economic development projects on its own.
“That’s why we want to partner and move forward with a closer relationship with the city,” he said. “Hopefully, we can eventually generate some own-source revenue.”
Long Plain, on the other hand, already has a lot of own-source revenue to support its social programs — with big plans to grow that. In addition to Keeshkeemaquah, it also has the Madison urban reserve in Winnipeg, where it owns and operates a number of businesses, including the two year-old Wyndham Garden Winnipeg Airport hotel.
Terry Myran Jr., CEO of Arrowhead Development Corp., said it has had a long-standing relationship with the City of Portage la Prairie and, in turn, it has always been supportive of what Arrowhead has done.
“With CEDI, it is more about team-building and more for us to get to know how their system operates and vice versa,” he said. “It will give us a lot of opportunities for collaboration and to set up a road map.”
The CEDI program — which provides a modest $45,000 for the partners to cover some basic costs — is ideally about things like long-term land planning and collaborating on infrastructure development and not about transactional relationships.
“When it comes to resources in the area, we need the city to be on board so that they can let us know what’s going to work in terms of utilities and infrastructure,” Myran said.
CEDI program acts as a third-party, neutral facilitator “to be able to ask strong and guiding questions,” that can uncover biases or misunderstanding or lack of knowledge, Lawrence said. It includes bi-annual meetings with chief and council and mayors and city council.
She said most partnerships leave with a joint strategic plan, economic development strategy or partnership agreement.
In June, Knox and the Portage council engaged in a reconciliation ceremony officially overturning a law that was created in 1911 forbidding Dakota Plains people to live in the city.
“Recognizing the past and moving forward is important,” said Knox. “We know that type of thing is very ceremonial. Now, things like the CEDI program are moving us into action, but we actually have to put the time and effort in behind things in order to move forward. That’s what we are hoping to do here.”
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
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