Sask. First Nations make gains – StarPhoenix

FEBRUARY 14, 2014

Catterall is the director of aboriginal banking, prairies, in the Bank of Montreal’s Central Canada division.

The challenges that face Canada’s aboriginal communities are well known, and significant improvements have long proved elusive.

In 2010, Aboriginal Affairs and Economic Development Canada released an analysis that suggested there was limited progress in the wellbeing of indigenous communities between 2001 and 2006. In fact, the average well-being of those communities continued to rank significantly below that of other communities in Canada. Meanwhile, conditions on many reserves across the country remain poor.

But progress is being made on several fronts. Of particular importance is the opportunity for aboriginal communities across Canada to assert more influence over their economies, and we are seeing this take place on some reserves here in Saskatchewan. As a result, aboriginal people who have not shared historically in the wealth evident in the Canadian landscape are set to experience an era of prosperity.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Sask+First+Nations+make+gains/9507298/story.html