If the tools of governance are in place for all first nations...it is critical for first nations to be generating their own-source revenues. Nobody wants to be dependent on the federal government. Just like the Atlantic provinces, we don't want that dependency.
You have to remember that the Indian Act has fostered a culture of dependency in our first nations communities, and that's what we are trying to break free from. By fostering the culture of dependency, we now have to transform a mentality that exists on the reserve that is based on dependency. That is a very real issue, and that is a very challenging issue. How do we break free from that? Number one, it's a transformation of mentality, but we have to do that by transforming our economy. We have to be participants in the economy, and we have to do that with the government in cooperation, working with us, to help us with the tools of governance to generate those own-source revenues, so that we can in turn reinvest those dollars back into the community, into housing and social programs--long-term programs.
The problem with the federal funds is that they come in and we have to deliver them. Basically, we are just delivery agents for Indian Affairs. We're basically managing poverty on first nations communities. We don't want to be in the business of managing poverty; we want to manage growth and development. But we need the tools of governance to do that, and that is the direction in which we are moving, so that in 5, 10 or 15 years.... Tomorrow night I have a community meeting, and that's exactly what I'm going to ask my community: where do you want to be 10 years from now?
In order to get to where we want to be, this is what we have to do. We need to get those tools of governance. We need to generate our own-source revenues so that we reinvest in some of those priority areas in our communities.