Working with bands

It's Business 101: Know who you're dealing with.

The classic rule has added resonance when working with first nations communities, says Matt Vickers, a partner with Meyers Norris Penny in Vancouver and the accounting and business advisory firm's provincial director of aboriginal services for British Columbia and Yukon.

"My advice, always, to any entity wanting to do business [with a native community] is, 'Have you gone through aboriginal awareness training?' " says Mr. Vickers, who has analyzed native economic development.

He says would-be business partners need to know and understand the history of the band. In some cases, difficult past relationships with non-aboriginals can make a native community cautious about new ventures.

There is also the possibility of competing land claims. Separate bands' ideas about what constitutes traditional territory may overlap, he notes, citing as an example the Dene, who were originally from the North but have a reserve in Calgary, traditional Blackfoot territory.

It is also crucial to clarify the question of governance and to determine who will be making the decisions. Mr. Vickers says he has found that the most successful bands are those with well-established leaders who set up arm's-length development corporations that can operate without suspicion of political interference.

Ideally, no band council members are involved as trustees or board members of the development body, "so you have complete separation," says Mr. Vickers, whose heritage is Tsimshian and Heiltsuk, both in British Columbia. "If there has not been a separation in the leadership of the development corporation, there will be issues, there will be problems."

Taxation is another issue to keep on top of, he says, because the rules related to taxes and native rights change regularly and should never be assumed to be fixed in stone.