\n ‘This colonial, prescriptive, paternal, destructive, racist and discriminatory act turned its back on the Mi’kmaq<\/span>\u00a0Nation’<\/span> In the\u00a01980s, the federal government recommended the community\u00a0get into the pipe manufacturing business to generate cash,\u00a0a failed plan that left\u00a0Membertou\u00a0in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n “I recall the awful feeling of seeing people in my community walking with their heads down. Their community was poor and without any prospects, any hope for improvement, for us or for our children.”<\/p>\n After some cajoling\u00a0and leadership by Membertou’s chief,\u00a0Terrence Paul, and\u00a0Bernd Christmas, the first Mi’kmaq\u00a0lawyer called to the bar in Canada, the community threw off the yoke of the Indian Act in the late 1990s by essentially ignoring major provisions of the act \u2014 and began\u00a0making their own business investments on reserve.<\/p>\n The leaders tapped Dan\u00a0Christmas to serve as a senior adviser, overseeing day-to-day operations of a community in transition.<\/p>\n Christmas said officials in Ottawa didn’t like\u00a0Membertou\u00a0“upsetting the whole apple cart. The big impediment was the Indian Act, which is designed to keep First Nations isolated, segregated and in poverty, so we don’t interact with the mainstream Canadian economy.<\/p>\n “That’s it’s legacy.”<\/p>\n Membertou\u00a0was an early\u00a0agitator\u00a0\u2014 along with other business-oriented reserves like\u00a0Whitecap Dakota First Nation<\/a> in Saskatchewan and Westbank First Nation in B.C. \u2014\u00a0pushing Ottawa to allow some First Nations to overlook portions of the Indian Act.<\/p>\n Membertou<\/span>\u00a0got its financial house in order, Christmas said, paying down debt and “forging\u00a0a new economic frontier”\u00a0by generating substantial revenue through development of a commercial fishery and the construction of a convention centre and hotel, bingo hall,\u00a0sports complex<\/a>, gas station,\u00a0shops, and soon a\u00a0bowling<\/a> alley<\/a>, throwing open the\u00a0doors to non-Indigenous members of the local community.<\/p>\n “This colonial, prescriptive, paternal, destructive, racist and discriminatory act turned its back on the\u00a0Mi’kmaq\u00a0Nation. We determined that in order for us to survive, to build an economy and to restore our nation and our community, we had to turn our back on the Indian Act,” Christmas said.<\/p>\n The Department of Indian Affairs opposed construction of the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre near Sydney, N.S., in 2003 because of the financial burden it would place on the community. Leaders rejected those concerns and today it is a major employer. (Membertou Trade and Convention Centre)<\/p>\n At issue for all enterprising First Nations are sections of the Indian Act that can make it an arduous task to obtain financing; mortgages are all but prohibited\u00a0because\u00a0the land is actually held by the Crown in trust.<\/p>\n So Membertou turned to the non-profit, Indigenous-run First Nations Finance Authority<\/a> to tap the bond market and raise money, despite opposition from Ottawa.<\/p>\n \n ‘When communities are ready, willing and able to get out from under the Indian Act, we need to do that and give that assistance as quickly as we can.’<\/span> When the community’s chief set out to build the convention centre, regarded as Membertou’s\u00a0flagship operation, the Department of Indian Affairs sent a letter\u00a0to say it would forbid the community from taking on\u00a0such a financial burden. “The chief said ‘OK, that goes in the garbage,’ and we built it despite their objections,” Christmas said.<\/p>\n “We weren’t about to ask anyone’s permission about matters of our own future ever again. The days of poorhouse begging for scraps were over.”<\/p>\n Changes were\u00a0made to the Indian Act in 1999 with the introduction of the First Nations Land Management Act (FNLMA), which allows eligible First Nations to opt out of 34 land-related sections of the\u00a0legislation to develop their own land codes and independently govern their\u00a0reserve lands and resources.<\/p>\n These provisions have so far\u00a0allowed 57 reserves to\u00a0leverage their land to obtain financing<\/a>\u00a0to build businesses.<\/p>\n Membertou First Nation opened a $19-million sports and wellness facility in 2016. (George Mortimer\/CBC)<\/p>\n Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has said\u00a0FNLMA\u00a0is a “good news” story\u00a0for her department.<\/p>\n “When communities are ready, willing and able to get out from under the Indian Act, we need to do that and give that assistance as quickly as we can,” Bennett told<\/a> the Senate’s Aboriginal peoples committee recently.<\/p>\n While some communities have been reluctant to leave parts of the Indian Act behind, Bennett had a clear\u00a0message: “Try it; I think you’ll like it.”<\/p>\n In 1995, Membertou\u00a0had just 37 employees and a $1-million annual operating deficit. Now, the community is the third-largest employer in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, employing 500 people, half of whom hail from outside of Membertou\u00a0\u2014 now an economic powerhouse in a part of the country that has faced serious economic challenges since the closure of the region’s government-owned coal mines\u00a0and steel plant at the start of the millennium.<\/p>\n
\n – Senator Dan Christmas<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n‘Paternal, destructive, racist and discriminatory’<\/h2>\n
![\"Membertou\"](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4153661.1497025032!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/membertou.jpg\")
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\n – Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n‘Good news’<\/h2>\n
![\"Membertou](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.3748815.1497030858!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/membertou-sports-and-wellness-centre.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEconomic powerhouse in region<\/h2>\n
![\"Membertou](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4154095.1497033529!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/membertou-school.jpg\")
<\/p>\n