For First Nations to be economically viable, proper planning must be carried out.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation executive director David Fletcher used a hunting analogy to make his point at the NAN Economic Summit Feb. 22-24.

“What I learned as a young person … is before you hunt, you must be prepared,” he said.

Recalling his youth, Fletcher said it was his job during a hunt to set up decoys during hunting trips.

It would have been easy to shoot a few geese during the process but his father wouldn’t allow it.

The time to shoot was later when everyone was ready. In the end, more geese would come to his family in Moose Cree First Nation because of the planning and patience they undertook.

That mentality has stuck with Fletcher.

He said proper planning will be key to ensuring NAN communities are part of Ontario’s and Canada’s economy.

“The NAN economy is categorized by land,” Fletcher said, with resources being the centrepiece moving forward.

But with rampant unemployment, there is currently a dependency on government money for welfare and similar programs.

“It is hard to run a business when little money exists in the communities,” Fletcher said. “There is never enough money to grow and prosper.”

He said something needs to change.

“We need to create a vibrant economy otherwise the welfare state remains.”

And the days of reacting need to be over.

“We are not prepared for development in the North,” Fletcher said. “We are always reacting.”

He said in Attawapiskat, when the De Beers Victor Project was moving from concept to construction, the same thing occurred.

“People reacted when the first shovel went into the ground,” Fletcher said. “It is no wonder we didn’t participate in that action. Yes, some people are working (at the Victor site) but mostly people who are extracting resources from their own land.”

Should the Ring of Fire – with vast riches of resources including copper and chromium located in the traditional lands of Webequie and Marten Falls – progress, things needs to happen differently.

Youth need to be trained and educated to fill the high paying jobs which are coming, Fletcher said.

“There is a prediction a city the size of Sudbury will be located around the Ring of Fire within 50 years,” Fletcher said.

A multitude of jobs will come in all sectors, he said.

“We need to look at the big picture.”

Opportunity exists in each sector of the cycle of development from permits, to exploration, construction and mitigation (clean-up).

These jobs should be going to Aboriginals in the communities most affected by development, Fletcher said.

For too long, national and multination companies have gotten rich off the land of the First Nations.

“Before the treaties, we were self-sufficient, networking people,” Fletcher said. “We have been bullied into complacency while the world has moved forward. Our lands have been taken (and they are) building wealth for other people.”

Fletcher, also a former NAN deputy grand chief, said First Nations deserve compensation for past use of lands, but also to share in the wealth of any new development.

“We have a right to a substantial part of the revenue (from projects occurring on NAN territories),” he said. “These resources are ours.”

Fletcher, drawing on more than 40 years of experience in First Nation management and operation, said the onus is on First Nations people to determine how the land will bring revenue to their people.

A shared understanding of how to develop the economy is needed, he said.

“To make a change, we must be at the table,” he said.

But a unified decision may be hard to reach.

“There is a belief that Aboriginal people do things together,” Fletcher said.

But it’s a misperception, he added. Traditionally, First Nations people were more nomadic; hunting and gathering as families, not as entire communities.

Living in communities of 100 to a few thousand people is a barrier First Nation people must overcome, Fletcher said.

“That is why unified agreements can be difficult (to sign),” Fletcher said. “Communities can be fractured. Some people are with the chief and council; some are against; and others don’t care.”