Thank you. I appreciate it.
Good morning to the chiefs who are here. The leadership in Treaty 4 territory acknowledge the area that you are on, unceded Algonquin territory.
Part of our goal in Muskowekwan First Nation, in terms of agriculture, comes from the land base. We have a land base of 64,800 acres. We believe this is our way to a better future. Part of it is that we have to correct the wrongs of the past. The way settlement took place was by moving the first nation people on to settled areas. With that came a loss of land. Our populations are growing, and our perspective is that we need to increase the land base. That is our solution.
Next in terms of agriculture comes partnerships. Because of the high capital cost of equipment—I'm talking about agricultural production and the high cost of capital for equipment and input—it's very difficult for a first nations start-up to get into agriculture in a big way. We have established partners, preferential partners. We're basically in a lease arrangement for our land now, trying to figure out ways, such as crop sharing, to get greater return for the lands.
We have another project, on urban lands that we have outside Regina, called “Project Iron Horse”. Part of it is that Muskowekwan is a community with railway from day one. We dealt, going back, from 1906 with the Grand Trunk Railway. We believe facilities and transportation are very important. Project Iron Horse allows first nations to pressure CN and CP in a political way, apart from what the provinces and Canada are doing, to say that we need to open up, especially in Saskatchewan, which is very landlocked and is challenged in getting the agricultural commodities to market. In that way, we're trying to increase our participation in transportation, especially by rail.
Another important area is marketing and branding. Muskowekwan has a long-term agreement with the farmers' union in India to supply potash and soil enhancement products, expanding it into peas and lentils and into the pulse crops. We believe we are a nation that has the ability to market our goods and commodities globally. This is what we've exemplified by signing that agreement.
As we look at identity, preserved in all of these types of ways consumers look at making their purchases, we believe that a first nation brand globally would have a lot of positive impact. Part of the branding would be that many of our first nations lands have not seen a drop of spray or chemical or any of that type of application. Part of the belief is that much illness is caused by the application of those types of chemicals. We believe that our way of growing could actually help improve the quality of health for many people.
Our last area is youth and programming. We need to make investments in our youth's understanding of food security and of agriculture production. We can't wait until people are adults. We have to make those investments in the youth, whether by partnering with 4-H programming or creating our own type of agricultural program tailored for first nations. Those big investments in youth, whether for production or for cattle or for calving operations, whatever it may be, will I believe be worthwhile investments.
I want to thank you for your time. Those are the perspectives that I bring.