Aboriginal Corporations as a Response to Poverty and Land Claim Settlements
Richard Grover
The settlement of aboriginal land claims in Alaska, Canada, and New Zealand has resulted in the transfer of significant real estate assets into the hands of groups of indigenous peoples. The claims arise from forced asset sales, treaties not being honoured, and dispossession of traditional lands. They have tended to be group claims as the traditional lands lost were mainly in collective tenure and governments find it easier to come to a settlement with a representative collective of indigenous peoples rather than to reach individual settlements. The assets form significant units and can produce major enterprises. Indigenous peoples are faced with a number of issues, including poorer life chances than the population as a whole, traditional lifestyles which are under threat from environmental degradation and the migration of their populations from the traditional lands, and cultures which are in danger of disappearing, particularly if the language is lost. The settlements provide the economic means to address these through improved education for the young, support for cultural activities, medical care, and the ability to provide a range of welfare supports for those in the community that need them. The assets can also be used to provide employment opportunities. As the settlements involve the transfer of assets, they can, if well managed, enable indigenous groups to share in the economic growth and prosperity of the country. This requires an entrepreneurial and professional approach to the management of the assets, including developing their potential and reinvesting some of the surpluses in diversification. The examples given in this paper all show how indigenous groups have done this. The settlements have resulted in the growth of a fourth sector of the countries? economies alongside that of the public and private sectors and the voluntary/ mutual sector. The result has been the growth of significant businesses, particularly in the real estate and natural resources sectors, which are under aboriginal control.
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