Indigenous Perspectives on Building the Social Economy of Saskatchewan

Excerpt from Introduction, page 73-74:

Governments of every political stripe have been unsuccessful in their attempt to meaningfully integrate Indigenous peoples into economic plans. This marginalization is mostly seen by larger society as Indigenous peoples’ failure, a type of blaming-the-victim attitude. More communities are finding themselves at the mercy of globalization of economies, where business interests are more concentrated and market forces are the rule of the day, diminishing the control that people have over their local circumstances...

It is the argument of this chapter that social economy models of economic development can be used to build alternative economic structures that will reduce the poverty and social exclusion of Aboriginal peoples, and others in Saskatchewan, particularly in times of globalization and the intensification of neoliberal and market-driven economic development. This paper will begin with a brief socio-economic description of First Nations and Métis communities in Saskatchewan and will end by making specific policy suggestions that the Saskatchewan provincial government should follow to reduce the marginalization of Aboriginals in Saskatchewan through promoting our province’s social economy. I use the terminology Indigenous and Aboriginal interchangeably in this paper and recognize that First Nations and Métis peoples have different jurisdictions politically, educationally and legally, but share common features of underdeveloped communities. I also use social economies and community economic development interchangeably... In spite of Saskatchewan’s social democratic political tradition that emphasizes egalitarianism, colonialism has been a consistent reality for the province’s Indigenous people." (73-74).