"WHO SHOULD OWN RESERVE LANDS?" RESTORING FIRST NATION PROPERTY RIGHTS

KAMLOOPS, BC, Oct. 13 /CNW/ - The First Nations Tax Commission and the Indigenous Bar Association are co-hosting a national conference, "The First Nations Property Ownership Initiative: It's Time". The one-day conference will be held October 20^th, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Internationally renowned economist Hernando de Soto will deliver the keynote address.

The conference examines the First Nations Property Ownership Initiative and explores its tremendous economic potential. It will provide an overview of the initiative, its economic rationale, and an assessment of some of the legal questions raised by this profound advancement in First Nation property rights. The Initiative is a proposal to create legislation that would enable participating First Nations to assume legal title to their lands. It would allow a range of property rights, including fee-simple, backed by a modern Torrens land registry. It would confirm and extend First Nation governmental powers over their land, regardless of any changes in ownership. And, it would contain important safeguards to protect the reserve land base.

Leading the Initiative is C.T. (Manny) Jules, Chief Commissioner of the First Nations Tax Commission, who described it as the first of its kind in the Americas, and a much needed alternative to the current land tenure system on reserve. "Regaining control and ownership of our lands is critical to ending the cycle of dependency.  For far too long we have been legislated out of the economy, it's time we were legislated back in," said Mr. Jules. 

Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has been a leading advocate of formalized property rights amongst the world's poor, including indigenous societies. His work in Peru and around the world empowering and building the capacity of the poor to advocate for their own property rights has been a powerful catalyst for democratic, market-oriented reform.  Mr. de Soto was a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 and is the President and Founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Lima, Peru. He is the author of the best-selling book "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else".

"You don't have to travel to Zambia or Peru to see dead capital.  All you need to do is visit a reserve in Canada. First Nation people own assets, but not with the same instruments as other Canadians.  They're frozen into an Indian Act of the 1870's so they can't easily trade their valuable resources", said Hernando de Soto.

To learn more information about the conference and how to register, visit www.fnpo.ca.

For further information:

Agnes Papanastasiou
Public Affairs Officer, First Nations Tax Commission
[phone]
www.fntc.ca