Business and Money

Business and Money, we need money to do business, or we need to do business to make money. In some First Nations communities this is foreign language, why, because more then 95% of the First Nations communities in British Columbia rely on Government subsides and assistance. Some would say this is earned, the government owes First Nations for the use of Crown lands cross Canada. Crown Lands that is a whole another blog post, especially the money that is generated from those lands and put into a government account called Lands, Revenue and Trust. More then $40 to $80 billion dollars was generated from Crown Lands in the last 40 years, and this might even be low balling the amount over the last 40 years. More then half of that amount was suppose to go to First Nations communities across Canada, to cover things like Day to Day Band administrations, Health Care and Medical, Education, Housing, Social and Cultural well being, etc. First, monies for First Nations people went to the Department of Indian Affairs, to be set up in a process for distribution to communities across Canada. This process probably ate up half of the monies generated from the Crown Lands, this process would be defined as a bureaucratic process as defined around the Indian Act. Example: even if $60 billion dollars was generated from Crown Lands over the last 40 years, half of that went to the bureaucratic process, then that left about $30 billion over the last 40 years to be distributed and not equally to over 500 First Nations communities, we will let you do the math. It sounds like a lot, but historical evidence will show it was not, the poverty conditions, lack of proper housing, a Residential School and Education process that speaks for itself. Again, lot of this process was defined around the Indian Act, this is what defined the legal processes of First Nations lives. We can go on and on about the wrongs that were committed over the last 40 years, but an eye for an eye will make us all blind. First Nations people have the potential and viable options to create an Economic environment to be self-sufficient, and to be a major contributor to the floundering economy of Canada and the World, they have had this potential and viable options all the time. But the lack of understanding and education of the process, the fear and risk from both sides of the table to overcome the barriers the last 40 years. The Indian Act used and abused First Nations people since its incorporation, but it can be used and abused to make a present environment a viable one, its legal and defined, governments and courts use its parameters, it is so full of a lot of gray areas. A lot of money has been made off the backs of First Nations people over the years, its time for First Nations to share in that real money, not lease or fixed percentages arrangements, time to make real money.