In many traditional aboriginal communities, food, property and resources have common ownership. Or rather, ownership doesn’t exist in the Western sense — all is shared for the greater good.

Nisga’a economic development coordinator Art Mercer (right) and RRU entrepreneurship  professor Brent Mainprize

Seven years after signing B.C.’s first self-governance treaty, the Nisga’a Nation is transitioning from creating the nuts and bolts of government to developing sustainable livelihoods for its 6,000 citizens. But in the brave new world of autonomy, economic development is driving an uneasy tension between what is communal and what is private.

Preserving the Nisga’a traditional culture and heritage is one of the treaty’s prime mandates. Squaring that with the pressures of modernity and individual rights has been occupying the minds of the Nisga’a economic development coordinator Art Mercer and Brent Mainprize, a professor and entrepreneurial expert at Royal Roads University.

Mercer and Mainprize are close to finishing the Nisga’a business development model after two years of close consultations with the community. Under the treaty, the Nisga’a will receive $252 million over 15 years to parlay into a sustainable economy.

“It’s an interesting challenge. We’ve got a group in Canada in essence with their own nation, who control their land and resources, and who have a pot of money,” Mainprize says. “The question is how to take that finite resource and turn it into economic development in perpetuity.”

For First Nations economic development, the Nisga’a government is rewriting the book. Most aboriginal businesses interests mingle closely with the band council, and are often primarily employment mechanisms.

Now free from the Indian Act, the Nisga’a Nation has drawn a clear line between government and business. The Nisga’a Commercial Group has helped set up telecommunications, forestry, fishing and backcountry tourism ventures, but operates independently from the government.

Critically, the Nisga’a Lisims government has legislated fee-simple land, which opens up borrowing equity for its citizens. Now the focus is on building infrastructure and entrepreneurial capacity. Private land ownership and entrepreneurial education are the two pillars of the economic model developed by Mercer and Mainprize.

“The Nisga’a see employing people as an important step, but more important is developing entrepreneurs to support the Nisga’a Commercial Group,” Mainprize says.

Mercer, speaking at a symposium at Royal Roads in July, said a “common bowl” would bridge the pillars of the business model, a concept that implies building individual wealth will grow the common wealth of the nation. If done carefully, private business ventures will reinforce rather than dilute Nisga’a heritage, Mercer said.

“We have to have balance,” Mercer said. “But individuals working in the private sector create wealth in the community and it adds to the wealth of the culture.”

A big challenge will be attracting external investors to the remote Nisga’a territory. The nation directly owns about 2,000 square kilometres, and controls fish and forest resources over 26,000 square kilometres, but is far up the rugged northern B.C. coast, roughly parallel to the Alaskan panhandle.

Mainprize says the next two years will be about implementing tools to help individuals get business ideas off the ground. He expects to travel to the Nisga’a Nation about six times per year to advise and mentor young entrepreneurs.

Mercer pointed out the Nisga’a was fortunate to have far-thinking leaders who set up schools, health clinics and other social infrastructure in the 1970s. When the treaty came into force May 11, 2000, the jarring rush to create a government from scratch was far less onerous with institutions in place.

“First Nations in the U.S. are rich in business infrastructure. Canadian First Nations are rich in social infrastructure,” Mercer said. “Now we’ve got to develop the business side.”

For more on the Nisga'a Lisms goverment see www.nisgaalisims.ca.