First Nations want small business help

One member of the brains trust behind the election of Phil Fontaine to his second term as chief of the Assembly of First Nations was Roland Bellerose, publisher of the Bragg Creek, Alberta-based bi-monthly Aboriginal Times Magazine. In a story from First Perspective, a national aboriginal news service, Bellerose says "We’re always labelled as people who are a tax burden or don’t pay taxes ­ and that’s as false as it comes."

He is a proponent of encouraging small aboriginal businesses and said that Fontaine could introduce national strategies that help small businesses grow, encourage more public-private partnerships, and "help us level the playing field and get involved in the economic engine of Canada." Ottawa and the provinces should give Aboriginal businesses the same fiscal tools that "mainstream" companies get, such as public funding, government guarantees, credits similar to the ones farmers receive, and tax breaks, in return for investment.