Indigenous land claims and economic development: the Canadian experience

This paper examines the role that Indigenous people’s rights to land and resources pay in business and economic development in Canada and elsewhere. It does this in four parts. The first provides background information about the socioeconomic circumstances of Aboriginal1 people in Canada, and about their response and the response of the Canadian government to these circumstances. The second is a brief discussion of development theory. The third looks at the impact of a particular Aboriginal land claims settlement on the economic development activities of the Aboriginal people involved. The final section presents some concluding comments about the experience of Indigenous people in Canada and the relevance of this experience elsewhere in the world.