Back To School

An old friend of mine once joked: "What do you call a 'rez entrepreneur'?"

"I don't know," I replied, grinning. "Casino manager?"

"No," he said, laughing. "A drug dealer."

Though cryptically humorous (perhaps even racist), the joke left me to reflect about the current state of aboriginal business.

In the past, Indian reserves have been known mainly for their gas stations, billboards and casinos. Generally, people don't associate Indian reserves with successful businesses. But in the past decade that has been changing a lot.

We've seen Aboriginal tourism, especially here in B.C., expand tremendously. The $10 million Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Blueprint Strategy--a comprehensive plan designed by Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia and funded by the BC government--hopes to increase provincial revenues in Aboriginal tourism by $20 million by 2010. And in the coming decade, I think we'll see many Indian bands launching themselves into the corporate world, and not just as lease-holders but as hardworking business innovators--like the Upper Similkameen Indian Band, who turned an old gold mine into a tourist attraction with the Mascot Mine Tours; or like the Osoyoos Indian Band, who opened their final phase of the Nk'mip Desert Cultural Centre last summer.

Anyone who's spent any time on one of BC's 198 Indian reserves understands why Aboriginal business is of such great importance. Indian reserves are some of the most impoverished areas of the country. Poor living conditions, unemployment, crime, and addiction have all become synonymous with rez life. The only way to change this is through sustainable economic development. And the best way to achieve that is through the creation of equitable businesses--businesses of equal or better quality to any non-native business. For a long time it's been believed that rez businesses are of a lesser quality.

In the past, Indian bands have attempted to battle unemployment by simply creating new jobs within their governance system. But this approach is vulnerable in that it relies on increased government funds. You might dare to call it justified welfare. Though it may appear helpful, it is in fact counterproductive.

Luckily a school has been developed to help bands create better jobs more creatively.

The Osoyoos Indian Band Centre for Aboriginal Community Enterprise is a new education program aimed at teaching Indian bands how to battle unemployment by creating jobs through equitable business. Funded through Aboriginal Business Canada and a number of corporate sponsors including Vancity and Royal Bank of Canada, the school is organized by the Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB). After years of teaching other communities their secrets to success, the consultants and managers at OIB decided the best thing to do would be to make a pilot program, so they could teach other bands and businesses their strategies in a more organized fashion.

Lectures are held in three venues--the Nk'mip Desert Cultural