Native business growing rapidly

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Aboriginal businesses are playing an essential role in Canadian economic development, according to a recently release report by Industry Canada.

The report, Aboriginal Entrepreneurs in Canada: Progress and Prospects, states that over 20,000 businesses in Canada are Aboriginally-owned. Between 1981 and 1996, the number of Aboriginal people who were self-employed grew almost three times faster than the national increase in self-employment.

"This special report clearly illustrates that Aboriginal enterprise is progressing well towards the new millennium. But we have more work to do, and these findings identify key areas which will help to focus our efforts - areas such as encouraging innovation, developing management skills and improving access to financing," said Chief Roy Whitney, chairperson of the National Aboriginal Economic Board in Regina.

The report indicates that while traditional resource-based activities such as logging, farming and mining continue, Aboriginal entrepreneurs are venturing into "new economy" areas that are highly knowledge-based.

"Today, Aboriginal entrepreneurs are in virtually every facet of the Canadian economy including software design, manufacturing, tourism, the arts, health care, engineering and management consulting," reads the report.

Serge Nadeau, director of Industry Canada's micro-economic policy analysis branch, says Aboriginal people have advanced in business over the years.

"The number of Aboriginal entrepreneurs has increased by more than 250 per cent since 1981."

Nadeau said the success and growth in the Aboriginal business sector can be attributed in part to the increase in education and youth involvement.

"Aboriginal youth are more than two times more likely to be entrepreneurs than Canadian youth in general."

The report also states that the growth in the self-employed Aboriginal women is double that for women generally.

As well, the report suggests that Aboriginal people are making gains in educational attainment and adults are improving their competencies.

"This is reflected in the relatively high proportion of Aboriginal students attending full-time post-secondary education who are 25-years-old or over. About 44.7 per cent of Aboriginal students attending higher education are over 25 compared with 14.3 per cent for the general population. This is three times that for the general population. The proportion studying engineering and science, mathematics and commerce has also risen."

The report states that not only do the Aboriginal businesses benefit the owners, but also create employment for other Canadians.

The 1996 Aboriginal Business Survey conducted for Industry Canada by Statistics Canada found that "46 per cent of Aboriginal businesses hire additional full-time, permanent workers. As well, 46 per cent hire at least one permanent part-time worker, and 43 per cent hire at least one temporary worker. One in four new Aboriginal jobs can be attributed to the rise in self-employment."

While self-employment has been rising rapidly, the Aboriginal population has also been growing.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples forecast that between 1991 and 2016, the Aboriginal population will rise by 52 per cent compared to 22 per cent for non-Aboriginal Canadians.

It adds that continuing fast Aboriginal population growth and the need to address high unemployment will require about 500,000 Aboriginal jobs by 2016. Therefore, the creation of viable business opportunities will be "essential to the future prosperity of Aboriginal people."