A little bit of history was made last weekend when the New Brunswick business community came together in a strategic alliance with New Brunswick’s twelve First Nation communities.

Purpose of the alliance, known as the New Brunswick First Nations Business Liaison Group is to support and facilitate partnerships between New Brunswick First Nations and the business community. The intent is to foster economic development that will serve the interests of both parties.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time in the history of this province that such an initiative has been undertaken without the direct involvement of government.

The Business Liaison Group will act as a forum to facilitate communication and to promote linkages amongst New Brunswick’s First Nations and the business community in New Brunswick with a view to advancing and supporting economic development on a province wide basis.

The Group has formally incorporated as a not for profit entity and operates with a Steering Committee and Board of Directors that includes the twelve chiefs or their designated representatives and twelve volunteer individuals from the business sector. Bud Bird, a former provincial Cabinet Minister and a highly respected businessman from Fredericton and Chief Noah Augustine of the Metepenagiag First Nation in Red Bank co-chair the Steering Committee.

Coincidentally, the Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) of First Nation Chiefs has put together a strategic development plan which they presented to the Business Liaison Group last week at the St. Mary’s Reserve near Fredericton. As a matter of interest, the APC represents 37 First Nation communities in Atlantic Canada with a population of 35,000 people.

They embody the youngest demographic group in the region with an average age of 27 as compared to 41 for the rest of us. Perhaps more significant than the demographic is the fact that more than fifteen hundred First Nation students are currently attending an institution of post-secondary learning in the region. They will be the business and community leaders of the future.

First Nations own an estimated 75,000 acres of land in Atlantic Canada.

They have an increasingly educated and skilled workforce. They own a number of very successful businesses including an airline in Labrador, a convention centre in Sydney, hotels in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and a state-of-the-art Heritage Park and Interpretive Centre west of the Miramichi.

They partner in ventures with Boeing, Clearwater Seafoods, SNC Lavalin and Sikorsky Aircraft. They operate on-land aquaculture farms and offshore fishing fleets.

One of APC’s development strategies is to acquire more land in prime development areas in Atlantic Canada. Their immediate business focus will be on tourism, construction, light manufacturing, retailing, farming and aquaculture.

They hope to partner in major projects like the LNG (liquid natural gas) terminal, Point Lepreau, the new refinery and further developments in the aerospace industry. They also want to partner in smaller ventures with like minded entrepreneurs who recognize business opportunity.

The First Nations people that I have met recognize the value of education and the need for a trained and diversified workforce. They are articulate and forceful people and know where they are going.

They acknowledge that some of their people have problems, social problems and problems with drug and alcohol abuse. They also understand that the only way to rid themselves of these problems is to create the jobs that enable people to leave their dependencies.

There are some barriers to their success. Some of the barriers are cultural. Some are caught up in the stereotype images that we have of each other. Some of the barriers are based on fear.

Simple little things like accessing an off-reserve people network can be a major barrier for Aboriginal folks. Many of these barriers can be pulled down with positive and honest communication.

I have watched some of them come down as individuals get to know and trust each other and begin to recognize that they are talking about many of the same things (e.g. business, family and economic opportunity) that help to build healthier communities.

Leaders of these First Nations share something in common with Premier Shawn Graham.

They want to become self-sufficient. They want to grow their share of the economic pie to free themselves from dependence on the federal government. They want to invest in new projects and share the risks and rewards of those projects.

They want to invest in technology and productivity. Their focus is economic development and they seek partnerships and strategic alliances with new and existing businesses.

They look for highly qualified partners to help them run their businesses, recognizing the value of good management and the potential for skill and technology transfers. We need to cheer them on because their success will be our success.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at mailto:bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com