Reform the Indian Act to Boost First Nations’ Entrepreneurship, Says Study

An indigenous girl plays inside a teepee at a young bush camp in the northern Ontario First Nations reserve in Attawapiskat, Ont., on April 20, 2016. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

First Nations entrepreneurship can be improved if Ottawa removes further barriers to property rights within the Indian Act, a new study suggests.

“Indigenous people in Canada face many barriers to entrepreneurship that other Canadians do not, so Ottawa has a responsibility to right this wrong,” said study author Tom Flanagan, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, in a May 19 press release.