Thursday January 6, 2011

Mineral resource developments across Nishnawbe Aski Nation will be discussed a NAN Economic Summit to be held Feb. 22-24 in Thunder Bay.

“How are we part of the economy?” said Deputy Grand Chief Les Louttit, describing one of the topics to be discussed during the Economic Summit. “How did we evolve to where we are now since signing the treaty? And how are we going to fit into the overall provincial and national economy as we go forward into the future?”

Louttit said 11 other topics have also been selected for discussion over the three-day conference, including developing capacity for First Nation economic development, negotiating fair and equitable economic resource development and business deals, how does the global economy affect the economy in the NAN territory, legal aspects that will maximize the best deals for NAN First Nations and youth engagement in developing the NAN economy.

“We are going to have presenters from our NAN territories, we’re going to have facilitators from our NAN territories,” Louttit said. “We’re trying to limit the involvement of external consultants or advisors that have previously provided presentations that have not gone forward.”

Louttit said NAN is trying to involve people from the NAN communities to give them direction on economic concerns.

He said some of the impending developments that are being planned on NAN territory are “major, major developments worth billions and billions of dollars.”

The Economic Summit is designed to focus on engaging participants rather than providing lectures, with a final report to be developed along with a regional strategic plan that includes objectives, resource persons, deliverables, timelines and implementation to be presented at the 2011 NAN Winter Chiefs Meeting for ratification.

Louttit said the youth engagement discussion is an important topic.

“The youth are the future of our nation,” Louttit said. “We need to start engaging them in the things we do here at the NAN level.”