Source: Alaska Highway News
By: Matt Preprost, Jan 25, 2023
Chief and council for Doig River First Nation met with federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday for talks about a new First Nation-led fiscal framework for resource revenues in their territories.
Chief and council for Doig River First Nation met with federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday for talks about a new First Nation-led fiscal framework for resource revenues in their territories.
In a news release, the First Nation says it met with Poilievre and other Conservative MPs about a proposed resource charge by the First Nations Tax Commission, designed to help communities exercise their self-determination by securing shared revenues and simplifying development applications and negotiations.
“Canada needs a better way to address First Nation rights with respect to resource projects. The current method takes too long, and costs all of us too much,” said Doig River Chief Trevor Makadahay in a statement.
Makadahay said a First Nations Resource Charge would be a “pre-specified standardized charge for doing business in our territory.”
“We have many resource projects in our area. We must negotiate and re-negotiate every one of them on a project by project, issue by issue, basis,” Makadahay said. “It will be fair, transparent, easier to administer and will not add costs to investors. Resources are the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, and that must include First Nations.”
Poilievre gave his support for the proposal at a news conference in Vancouver, where he announced he was launching consultations with First Nations and industry to develop the fiscal model that could incorporate such a voluntary, opt-in charge.
Red the rest of the story here.
