Suchergebnisse

Many Aboriginal leaders are focused on holistic approaches to bring physical, mental, and spiritual health to their citizens, allowing them to participate fully in a community's future. However, teen pregnancy brings specific challenges that need to be addressed if, indeed, children are the future of Aboriginal communities. This commentary looks at how the tools of community economic development (CED) can be applied to move young parents into positions from which they can participate in local economies. CED can be used to address contributing factors to teen pregnancies that are supportive of youth and appropriate to the community in question. Young parents need support to develop the necessary independence and resilience. This brings challenges to community leadership to take steps to encourage the development of healthy sexuality and lifestyles, and to provide the needed education, training, and other community supports. If youth are the future of Aboriginal communities, the cost of ignoring young parents and their children is much too high to ignore.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1971) and the creation of the Alaska Permanent Fund (1976) provided Native and non-Native Alaskans with two means of trust capital investment. To date Native Alaskans have largely chosen a strategy of investment in local established and/or new businesses, while the Permanent Fund has pursued a portfolio management strategy. Both investment means were examined against their stated ends (for the former: profit, social responsibility and cultural preservation; for the latter: savings, profit, and dividend distribution). It is concluded that business risk investment in an isolated and remote northern state characterized by economic reliance on externally controlled business cycles is inherently risky and that a strategy of international portfolio management has paid far superior dividends. Given that the current situation in the Canadian North (two Northern Accord agreements-in-principle and the Dene/Metis and Yukon Comprehensive Land Claim agreements-in-principle achieved in 1988) parallels the situation in Alaska in the 1970s, the authors propose a strategy for the creation of a model developmental natural resource trust fund based on the best features of the Alaskan models. This model fund combines a portfolio management trust philosophy with the goal of sustainable economic development in the quest for northern fiscal autonomy.Key words: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Permanent Fund, resource management, Native people, economic development, sustainable development, trust funds, investment, Native land claims ; Mots clés: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Permanent Fund, gestion de ressources, autochtones, développement économique développement durable, fonds de placement, investissement, revendications territoriales des autochtones

The case studies contained in this book show real life examples of complex problems being addressed through collaboration. The problems confronting modern society are complex and do not lend themselves to simple solutions or linear decision making. They require the involvement of many stakeholders. This is often brought about by networks, which bring together a multitude of players in the search for solutions to public policy issues.