Volume 14, Number 2, Fall 2024

EN:

The keynote presentation at the 2023 Cando Annual Conference told of the Mi’kmaw Coalition and Premium Brand Seafoods’ acquisition of Clearwater Seafoods. It provided a Mi’kmaw corporate perspective of the acquisition and was co-presented by Mike McIntyre (Membertou CFO), Jenny Morgan (Clearwater Seafoods LP), and Darryl McDonald (Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation CAO). The following is a summary of their presentation, focusing on three core aspects of the deal: building business relationships, minimizing risks to preexisting community assets, and highlighting opportunities for Clearwater to expand through strategic innovation. Finally, although Premium Brands was not represented in the presentation, examining their role in the partnership highlights the potential for strategic innovation in the future.

EN:

This paper evaluates whether the First Nations Forestry Program (FNFP), a contribution program for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, had a statistically measurable effect on the well-being of participating reserves’ inhabitants. Funding data from 1,078 projects was paired with reserve inhabitant profiles from two Statistics Canada censuses. Multiple regression models were then used to test for the statistical significance of project-funding treatments. The results suggest that from 2006 to 2010, the FNFP significantly affected the after-tax incomes of reserve inhabitants who had worked in forestry, as well as a lesser effect on the after-tax incomes of reserve families.

EN:

First Nation economic self-determination strategies are constrained by high investment facilitation transaction costs and high jurisdictional implementation switching costs. This paper summarizes a First Nation-led strategy to overcome these constraints. This strategy, which began 55 years ago, uses federal legislation such as the First Nations Fiscal Management Act (FMA) and the Framework Agreement on First Nations Land Management (FA). It is supported by First Nation institutions such as the First Nations Tax Commission, First Nations Financial Management Board, First Nations Land Management Resource Centre, First Nations Finance Authority, and the newly established First Nations Infrastructure Institute. Preliminary observations suggest the FMA-FA strategy has successfully reduced transaction and switching costs on First Nation lands and could accelerate economic self-determination for interested First Nations.

EN:

Employment, unemployment, participation, and wage rates have been more favourable for the non-Indigenous population than for the Indigenous population. With one exception, this has been the case in every year since 2007, when the data first became available. While wages were higher in 2022 than they were in 2021 for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, the overall employment picture for the Indigenous population was worse in 2023 than in 2022. Their unemployment rate was higher, while their employment and participation rates were lower. In comparison, all three rates were higher for non-Indigenous people in 2023. A critical factor related to each of these three rates is the education level achieved. Higher completed educational levels are directly related to lower unemployment rates and higher employment and participation rates as well as to higher wage levels.