[IPSM] Native group forging China link

[Douglas Brown]

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081114.RCHINA14/TPStory/Business

 INVESTMENT
 Native group forging China link
 RHÉAL SÉGUIN
 November 14, 2008

 QUEBEC -- When it comes to foreign investment, Canada's aboriginal leaders
like to think of themselves as the hidden wolf behind the crouching Chinese
tiger.

Yesterday, they emerged from a historic two-week trade mission in China
convinced that the great Chinese tiger was about to be unleashed on the
resource-rich native Canadian land mass to generate new wealth for
aboriginal communities across the country.

Some of China's most powerful corporate and political leaders were on hand
at Beijing's prestigious Government State House yesterday to sign several
memorandums of understanding that, according to the head of the Canadian
aboriginal business delegation, could open the door to concrete business
partnerships.

Canadian aboriginal leaders are seeking to attract a portion of China's cash
reserves to help develop native-controlled natural resources. Their effort
to attract Chinese partners is part of a broader push by a new generat ion
of leaders to break the age-old ties of dependency on federal and provincial
assistance, delegation head Calvin Helin said.

"We were here to tell China that Aboriginal Canada was open for business ...
And to be greeted and hosted at the level we were is quite unbelievable and
quite historic. It's an enormous first step," Mr. Helin said in a telephone
interview from Beijing. "It's been an exchange of incredible proportions."

Potential partnerships aren't limited to natural resources. One initiative
included a letter of intent between the Squamish Nation and the province of
Shaanxi to examine potential exports by Terrasphere Systems, a Boston-based
company that has operations in Vancouver and makes agricultural technology
to mass-produce organic fruit and vegetables.

Such deals would lead not only to greater autonomy for aboriginal
communities but more wealth for the entire country, Mr. Helin said.

The Chinese, he noted, showed particular interest in the Northwest
Territories, where the Tlicho Investment Corp., owned by the Tlicho First
Nation, has control over an important resource-rich land mass covering
39,000 square kilometres.
"Canadian aboriginals own or control about a third of=2 0the Canadian land
mass," Mr. Helin explained. "We have a new generation of leadership now and
so the leaders are looking for capital to develop our natural resources ...
The Chinese need the natural resources and other assets that we have in
Canada and the aboriginal population needs their capital investment and
expertise. It makes good sense to co-operate and work together."

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