Volume 13, Number 1, Spring 2023

EN:

Collaborating with the Canadian Council on Aboriginal Business (CCAB), the authors investigate how Aboriginal Economic Development Corporations (AEDCs) responded to and, in most cases, weathered the commercial disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Working from survey interviews, supplemented by business data from previous CCAB national surveys and other governmental information, the authors explore the challenges that CEOs faced and how they managed their companies through the COVID crisis. For many of the AEDCs respondents, the problems they were facing were not necessarily brought on by the pandemic but were outgrowths of pre-existing socioeconomic disparities that had been exacerbated by COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, these CEOs battled to maintain operations, manage and support staff in trying circumstances, and keep their assets operating or safely managed. They frequently assisted their home communities with services not normally within their purview, including producing PPE products and delivering groceries and medicine to remote communities. This report focuses on crisis management and can be a useful reference point for policymakers and decision-makers looking to create coherent responses to whatever the next crisis faced by EDCs might be.

EN:

The institutions governing First Nations reserves in Canada are commonly cited as a key barrier to economic development. Despite these claims, few studies have empirically assessed the institutional arrangements governing reserves. Conversely, there is a much larger and more developed literature on Native American economic development and the institutions governing reservations. While there are many important differences between First Nations reserves and Native American reservations, there are several key similarities that allow for comparisons. First, the institutional arrangements governing land, specifically federal trusteeship over land, are broadly similar in both contexts. The restrictions on property, especially the prohibition on using reserve and reservation lands as collateral, also create important similarities in the availability of credit, mortgages, and other banking services. Finally, while Native American tribes generally have more sovereignty over their lands and economies, First Nations are increasingly reclaiming the right to manage their lands and economies with similar levels of autonomy. This review summarizes the Native American economic development literature in these three areas and identifies relevant considerations for First Nations in Canada. The article concludes with a discussion of future research priorities.

EN:

Unemployment rates were lower, and participation and employment rates were higher for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada in 2021. The meaningful improvements in 2021 are in comparison with the COVID-19-induced negative rates of 2020. The employment and unemployment rates have not fully recovered from their 2019 pre-COVID rates. This is the case for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Employment, unemployment, participation, and wage rates are and have been more favourable for non-Indigenous individuals than for Indigenous individuals. When educational levels increase, employment, unemployment, and participation rates improve. Employment measures are examined by gender, age, and education, and Métis and First Nations employment measures are compared.