The head of the First Nations Bank of Canada says if the Harper government is serious about addressing the infrastructure gap on reserves, it will ensure K-12 education is properly funded in these communities.
First Nations Bank of Canada CEO Keith Martell was testifying before the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples earlier this week.
He says tinkering with the Indian Act or making it easier to borrow money will make little difference in the long term.
Martell says the only way to build economies of scale is through education.
“The biggest impact the federal government could have on the future economic health of First Nations is to concentrate on K-12 education,” he says. “Because frankly the largest correlation between economic well being and any other factors is achievement of education.”
He also says proposed changes to federal government legislation will not increase the borrowing capacity of First Nations communities.
“What First Nations Finance Authority is proposing by lumping government revenues in to commercial revenues for borrowing purposes is like a for-profit commercial business teaming up with a province or city to jointly issue a 30-year bond to finance capital spending. This is simply not done.”
The committee was examining the challenges of meeting infrastructure needs on-reserve.