Indigenous land rights, entrepreneurship, and economic development in Canada: “Opting-in” to the global economy

Indigenous people are struggling to reassert their nationhood within the post-colonial states in which they find themselves. Claims to their traditional lands and the right to use the resources of these lands are central to their drive to nationhood. Traditional lands are the ‘place’ of the nation and are inseparable from the people, their culture, and their identity as a nation. Traditional lands and resources are the foundation upon which indigenous people intend to rebuild the economies of their nations and so improve the socioeconomic circumstance of their people—individuals, families, communities, and nations. This paper explores business development activities that flow from the later aspect of indigenous land rights in a Canadian context, suggesting that the process is a particular and important instance of social entrepreneurship.