We are a region that's vast in size, but we have five first nations included within our boundaries. The reserves are affected differently, based on their proximity to the oil industry. If you look to the one closest to the heart of the oil sands development, Fort McKay, they have transitioned from probably more of a traditional living to one that embraces the economic opportunities.
They have had strong mentorship for at least 20 years coming from the industry itself, going from more than just employing aboriginal people to making them strong entrepreneurs. So they're benefiting from, if I recall correctly, almost a billion dollars a year being spent on contracts and services throughout aboriginal businesses.
We have a very strong Northeastern Alberta Aboriginal Business Association, which represents different first nation and Métis groups involved in a lot of construction, janitorial, and fleet maintenance work. Aboriginal companies are providing a variety of services.
If you get farther away from the oil sands, it has been a little bit more challenging. If you go to Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation down towards the south in Janvier and Conklin, those areas are just coming under the influence of more development, with the SAGD, a steam-assisted gravity drainage type of initiative. They're going to see something different perhaps for business opportunities from what the guys in the mining operating areas actually do. I don't think they've had the same length of time to develop and figure things out, but there's a very strong business orientation coming out communities like Conklin. Janvier is finding its way.
In the Anzac area, I recently had a meeting with the Fort McMurray First Nation. In the years since I was elected in 1998, I never had communications from them. But they've got a new chief and they've got some very new direction that really does seem to be embracing the opportunity for economic advancement of the people in that first nation.