Property rights can increase prosperity on First Nations reserves – Fraserinstitute.org

November 9, 2015

Our new Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister, Carolyn Bennett (pictured above), is no doubt getting briefed on various pressing aboriginal issues—from the state of education on reserves to high levels of unemployment in aboriginal communities. There’s no shortage of issues and work for Minister Bennett. But one of those pressing issues is the state of housing and infrastructure on reserves.

The quality of housing in First Nations communities often lags behind housing off-reserve.

A potential solution, supported by evidence-based research, is to extend full property rights to on-reserve First Nations citizens who currently cannot own fee-simple land.

Chief Michael LeBourdais of Whispering Pines First Nations, a proponent of property rights on reserve, states that property rights will help “restore [their] values and rights that the Indian Act took away” and make First Nations partners in the market economy.

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