Indigenous Economics and Reconciliation with André Le Dressay

How have economics affected Indigenous Canadians? How do you bring First Nation governments into the regional economy? These are just a few of the questions that Merrell-Ann and Michael ask André Le Dressay, the Director at the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics.

About Our Guest

André Le Dressay

Andre has been the Director of Fiscal Realities since its incorporation in 1992. André has significant experience with First Nation governments, financial modeling, education, and database design. He has 
written numerous academic and consulting reports in his areas of expertise: transaction costs, economic impact assessments, First Nation tax systems, and institutional analysis. André holds a PH.D. in Economics from Simon Fraser University. 

– Fiscal Realities

In This Episode

• Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics
• Fiscal Realities 
• Collaborative Leadership Initiative
• First Nation Tax Commission
• Season 1, Episode 5: Taxation and Reconciliation with Manny Jules

André Says:

>> 02:25: On the Mission of the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics: “Well, it’s, it was based on an observation, a piece of research that we completed in 1998 that showed that the cost of doing business on First Nation lands was four to six times higher than it was anywhere else.” – André Le Dressay

>>03:27: “One of the difficulties we have is we take words and give them the meaning that we want to apply. And reconciliation is one of the most difficult words to, for anyone to appreciate, because of course it’s used, it’s used quite often in relationships, right? That have gone bad.” – André Le Dressay

>>03:57: So you have 150 years of economic injustice. And so reconciliation has to be the process of bringing Indigenous governments back into the, into the economy. – André Le Dressay

>> 12:47: “I know this is an odd thing for an economist to say, but economics is one of the most romantic philosophies there are.” – André Le Dressay

>>13:19: “Economics is a romance language.” – Merrell-Ann Phare

>>15:43: “A little while ago, for instance, Starbucks made everyone go through diversity training because of something that was said in a Starbucks and it was a very offensive. And it brought all these people in to close to every Starbucks across the United States to go to diversity training. And It didn’t work….So when you think of what can Canadians do, or what can we, all of us do to do this? This is a very simple answer.” – André Le Dressay

The Challenge Before Us

>> 16:35: “One of the challenges that First Nations in Manitoba face is with the provincial government. And the reason they face a challenge with the provincial government is because the Manitoba provincial government is on the fiscal edge. 

They have the largest Indigenous population in Canada. And they have quite an aging non-Indigenous population. So they have two phenomenons. They have a rising cost of healthcare. And the Indigenous poverty means that they have a higher cost associated with poverty and less, lower revenues. So that’s like a fiscal catastrophe in the making, potentially. 

And so they have two choices. They can try to extract more revenue out of poor people, which never works well. And ultimately just makes people poor, right? Or they can grow their economy. Well, now they have a real choice to make. What’s the best way to grow the Manitoba economy?” – André Le Dressay

Other Ways To Enjoy Indigenous Economics and Reconciliation

Episode 6 Transcript