ABSN Alberta

The Aboriginal Context in Alberta

In 2001, there were 156,220 Aboriginal people living in Alberta, making up approximately 5% of the population compared to 4.4% of the Canadian population. Of Alberta’s Aboriginal population, 84,995 (54%) were First Nations, 66,080 (42%) were Métis, and 1,090 (0.7%) were Inuit.

The Aboriginal population in Alberta is young when compared to the population as a whole: in 2001, the median age was 23.4 compared to 35.4 in the non-Aboriginal population. In addition, 9% of Alberta’s children were Aboriginal, compared to 5.6% of all Canadian children.

The economic prosperity that Alberta has experienced in recent years has benefited both non-Aboriginals and Aboriginals alike. Off-reserve Aboriginals in Alberta had an employment rate of 62.6% in 2005, comparable to the total overall Canadian employment rate of 62.7% in for the same year.

The key land claim issues in Alberta relate to entitlements and some of these claims have been outstanding since 1874. Although reserves are a federal responsibility, the provincial governments in the Prairie Provinces are required to get involved because nearly all unoccupied crown land and mineral resources were transferred to the provinces in 1930 with a provision requiring land be set aside for reserves.

Métis people were excluded from the historic treaty-making process. The modern process began in 1973, but in 1979, the Baker Lake decision handed down by the Federal Court specified that one element required for Aboriginal title was that the Aboriginal group was in existence at the time of contact with European society, thereby excluding Métis. However, Alberta has the largest Métis population in Canada and is the only province that has passed legislation specifically for Métis people. In 1990, the provincial government designated 8 Métis Settlements in Alberta along with 1.25 million acres of settlement lands, a provision for local governance, and provincial financial commitments.

Program Implementation

In Alberta, a study conducted by Western Management and funded jointly by the federal and provincial governments looked at Aboriginal business needs and gaps in service. A three-year plan was developed based on this study and an ABSN coordinator was hired. By August 2003, a regional ABSN web site had been launched, a province wide database of Aboriginal-owned businesses had been compiled, focused Aboriginal business services were available at the Business Link in Edmonton and at the Calgary Business Information Centre, and regional ABSN sites had been established.

Because there were no background program documents available for the ABSN program in Alberta at the time of this writing, information was exclusively obtained from interviews and focus groups.

The ABSN program in Alberta is run through Business Link, a not-for-profit organization funded by Western Economic Diversification and Alberta Economic Development. Business Link maintains the ABSN website and provides bilingual services by telephone, online, and in person, adding a regional context to the federal ABSN initiative. The ABSN program also conducted Aboriginal Awareness training programs with service providers and provided workbooks, guides, and information for workshops for partners. In addition, two Aboriginal business conferences were held. The ABSN program in Alberta uses videoconferencing technology in order to disseminate information most effectively.

Outputs

Based on a review of documents, in 2004/05 the measurable outputs of ABSN Alberta include:

30 partners around the province (6 of which have been equipped with Aboriginal business resources);
Approximately 250 in-person or telephone contacts with Aboriginal clients per month;
2 conferences with a total of 360 attendees;
43,650 web visits (approximately 40% of which were on the French site);
22 videoconference points with over 2,000 users; and
38,000 business guides distributed (26,000 downloaded and 12,000 in print).

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