Why we need more individual property ownership for indigenous folks
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
209.24217
Summary
The lack of private property ownership on First Nations reserves puts Indigenous entrepreneurs at a disadvantage in securing credit for their business ventures, and it's a key part of why poverty and inadequate housing is a chronic issue on reserves. We need to radically change the entire system, and individual property ownership will be key.
Transcript
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So, I mean, this is something rare for me. I have to give a little credit word due to the CBC.
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They actually ran an excellent piece a little while ago on how the lack of private property
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ownership on First Nation reserves puts Indigenous entrepreneurs at a disadvantage
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in securing credit for their business ventures. Private home and land ownership's been essential
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for many people in building personal equity, and it can be used for retirement, business startups,
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or handing their wealth down to their children. People living on reserves are deprived of that
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ability, though, to build wealth that way, and it's a key part of why poverty and inadequate housing
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are chronic issues on reserves. Employment opportunities are limited on reserves already.
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They're often in isolated areas without easy access to broader markets. The prime employer on most
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reserves is usually the government, and it's often a little more than a work for welfare program.
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Ambitious citizens on reserves, and there's lots of them, are drawn to self-employment because of this.
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With new opportunities in virtual businesses, there's huge potential for business startups,
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even on the most remote of reserves. Even virtual businesses don't need capital to begin with,
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and there's the problem. I'm not a fan of banks, and I've dealt with the frustration of tight lending
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practices when it comes to small businesses. When my wife and I opened our pub, we had to use
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non-traditional lenders, and even after maintaining a perfect credit record and making profit for five
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years, we still couldn't qualify for a company credit card. We had to use our own. We never would have been
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able to finance the pub if we didn't have a home to use as equity to back it up. I don't blame banks.
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Business loans are high risk, particularly in the hospitality industry, and that's why a system of
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equity-based loans has evolved. Now, reserve residents don't have that ability. If a person lives on a
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reserve and defaults on a loan, there's no property a lender could seize to recover their costs and
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loss. People passing through reserves often wonder, why are the houses often in such terrible condition,
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even though they appear to be recently built? Well, when a person doesn't own a home, they have
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little incentive in maintaining it or trying to add value to it. I mean, have you ever put premium
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gas into a rental car? Citizens on reserves live in their home at the whim of the banned council. It's
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not their property, and they could actually conceivably be evicted from it on a whim if they caught the eye
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of the wrong council member who wanted a home for his cousin. They don't own it. They're basically in
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there, and the council controls it. Now, home equity is an integral part of retirement savings
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for many people. In First Nations, people are often trapped in a cradle-to-grave dependency on
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government support. The ability to own property could break them out of that cycle. The article
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to CBC, it did note that there are fears that private property would be sold to non-reserve people
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if it was granted. So what? That's the point of private property, the ability to do with it as you
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please, as the owner. How long do we want to maintain these poverty-ridden racial enclaves we call
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reserves anyway? What sort of future is there for citizens in these failed models of collectivism
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and dependency? Reserves should be divided up among the citizens so they may choose individually what
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the disposition of their land may be. Many, if not most, will stay, but they'll have the means to
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pursue business initiatives or the growth in their personal equity through property as everybody else
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does. The culture and community and reserves won't vanish if citizens are allowed to own property.
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Let's not pretend the cultures are doing really great as the reserves are sitting right now.
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First Nation citizens can own private property if we just change the Indian Act. People are under
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the misconception that the state of reserves or First Nation policy is set in stone somehow that
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the constitution or treaty obligations prevent it. That's not the case. The Indian Act is what
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guides these policies. Like any other piece of legislation, it can be amended or scrapped if the
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political will encouraged to do so can be found. The status quo with First Nations isn't acceptable.
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Despite constant injections of more and more money, living conditions remain deplorable. We need to
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radically change and reform the entire system and individual property ownership will be key to those
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reforms. It won't be easy and it won't happen soon, but if we see the state broadcaster willing to broach
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the issue now, we can see the cause isn't necessarily hopeless.