Indigenous communities may find success by breaking away from reliance on Ottawa
MEMBERTOU, N.S. — Dan Christmas is looking toward a brighter future.
The country’s first Mi’kmaw senator has witnessed the renewal of several Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada, including his own.
It was only a quarter century ago when Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton was headed toward bankruptcy.
“Very few people were working, even fewer people had businesses,” said Christmas. “We were going nowhere fast.
“Maybe it was because of crisis — we almost had no choice — we had to turn things around.”
Back in 1994, Membertou was solely reliant on federal transfer dollars.
It’s a tale all too familiar for Indigenous communities caught in the same cycle. Christmas said the dependency correlates to the 1876 Indian Act, which took control over first peoples’ destinies and was designed to extinguish their tribal way of life.
As part of its own legacy, Membertou was the country’s first aboriginal community to be forcefully moved by court order when 120 residents were relocated from the Kings Road Reserve to make way for urban development.
“There was no incentive to change, or to grow, or really create new opportunities,” Christmas said of the federal legislation.
“It was just a horrible piece of Canadian history that we lived through and now we’re breaking away from those chains.
Prior to Membertou’s renewal, Christmas was among a group of professionals who’d moved away for employment, only to be recruited back by Chief Terry Paul and his council.
“For us in Membertou, it was all about building our own prosperities, building our own businesses, and creating our own employment,” he said.
“We knew what it’s struggles were and because our families were there, and our relatives were there, it wasn’t just a job. It was just incredible passion in trying to change things around.”
Christmas, who served as Membertou’s senior advisor, said the rebuild began with a slashing of spending and creating efficiencies.
The Mi’kmaw community boosted its profile by opening a corporate office in Halifax, and formed profit-making partnerships across a variety of industries.
By roughly the year 2000, Christmas said Membertou had eliminated its debt. Soon after, the community opened a gaming centre and began using its revenues to assist in the creation of other businesses and capital investments.
Before its renewal, Membertou had 37 employees, operated under a $4-million budget and carried with it a $1-million annual operating deficit.
Things are much different now.
For the 2018-fiscal year, the band generated $$67-million in revenues, carried forth an annual surplus of $2 million and employed nearly 550 workers.
Its financial statements show that only 27.5 per cent of its previous budget were derived from federal contributions.
“You have individuals who are saying to themselves: ‘We don’t need the federal government; we can generate our own revenues and make our own businesses and begin to employ our own people” said Christmas.
“Our self-determination in Atlantic Canada has been through economic prosperity — it hasn’t been through self-government agreements, or land-claim agreements, or any of those other tools.”
Bolstered by a population boom and increasing education rates, Indigenous leaders feel an optimism for all of Atlantic Canada, not just their own communities.
But a key to moving forward will be the implementation of ‘Calls to Action’ outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, noted Christmas.
“When things are successful not only do the First Nations share the benefits, but also non-(Indigenous) communities immensely share the benefits as well,” Christmas said. “It becomes a win-win situation.
“The odd thing about that is … the federal government and even the provincial government take a back seat.
“They’re no longer the ones that are driving the dependency. Instead they try to enable success where there’s opportunity and where there’s promise.”
Christmas said he’s now seeing the outcome sought when peace and friendship treaties were signed by his ancestors.
“They envisioned a future of equal partnership … and here we are in 2019 — we are now fulfilling those partnerships and making things better.”
This article originally appeared as part of a SaltWire Deep Dive into “Indigenous success.” To read our Deep Dives, visit this publication’s website and click on the” In-Depth” tab.