Andrew Chisholm

P.E.I.’s First Nations economy is open for business, a group heard Monday at a breakfast meeting in Charlottetown.
Brian Francis, Chief of Abegweit First Nation, made a speech to about 100 people from the Island’s business community in the hope of building relationships.
Francis said nothing worth doing is easy and his people expect some failure along the way but he knows many successes will come.
“Realistically, we will endure some failures. Issues and problems will arise, as they do for each and every one of you,” he told the audience.
But he said throughout it all, the First Nation community will remain focused on one fundamental priority that “the status quo, as it pertains to the P.E.I. Mi’kmaq, is not acceptable.”
He said for too long First Nations on P.E.I. have focused on the things they lack rather than the things they have, something he has been trying to change through consultations with Band Councils and citizens since he was first elected chief in 2007.
“What we have more of than anything, the one aspect that makes a partnership with the First Nations appealing, is opportunity.”
 A study completed last year attributed $73 million to the Island economy as coming from  First Nations, either directly or indirectly, and Francis would like that number to grow over the next three to 10 years.
 “When that number grows, it benefits all of us.”
Francis said P.E.I.’s two Mi’kmaq governments, in conjunction with the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island, are working on the framework for a First Nations economic development fund. He said the initial plan would see an investment from the federal and province governments into a closely administered fund.


“For this to be successful, the fund would need to be governed by strict economic principles and rules, earmarked for strategic areas of development,” he said.
Dennis King, communications officer for the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island, said First Nations want to be consulted by private-sector companies who may have interest in expanding their current businesses or looking at new opportunities.
“We’d like to be in the conversation of what role we can play. We think our best recipe for success is to build upon the success of others.”
The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the event.

From The Guardian on April 13, 2010, reprinted with permission.