| Poplar River Ranks First - Aboriginal Governance Index | 22 June 06 |
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On June 15, 2006 the Frontier Centre for Public Policy released its Aboriginal Governance Index, A Ranking of Manitoba's First Nations - the first report of an ambitious project. Intended to inspire a search for better practices, the Index surveyed samples of people in communities via house-to-house interviews and asked them how they thought their governments were doing. In the opinion of their own residents, Poplar River First Nation was ranked highest at 75%. Sagkeeng First Nation followed at 70%. Both are situated on the East Side of Manitoba. Poplar River First Nation is the lead community in an Accord among 4 Manitoba First Nations for future management and protection of traditional territories that includes steps for a future world heritage site. It also enjoys a 70% employment rate. Sagkeeng First Nation is one of the largest First Nations in Manitoba, and has a long history of commerce, immigration, and influence beyond its reserve lands. The Index scored Manitoba's Indian reservations in six categories: elections, administration, human rights, transparency, services and the economy. As soon as possible the Frontier Centre intends to expand the Index to neighbouring provinces, and eventually across the country. The report also extrapolates the survey data into statistical correlations. An analysis of those correlations shows that Indian bands that more completely inform their citizens of the details of decision-making tend to be the best administered, and that those who respect human rights tend to have superior services. The bands scoring highest overall also tended to be those with the highest scores for transparency and human rights. The Frontier Centre established the Aboriginal Frontiers Project in 2003. Aboriginal Policy Fellow, Don Sandberg, may be the only native Canadian in the country employed by an independent think tank to undertake the sort of work characterized by the Aboriginal Governance Index. Embodied in the Aboriginal Governance Index is a positive message; by ranking aboriginal communities, the intent is to help point them in the direction of better governance practices. By publishing the results, the Frontier Centre hopes to spread the word throughout First Nations that ways and means exist for them to improve governing institutions and thereby improve quality of life for all Aboriginal peoples in Canada. View the Frontier Centre for Public Policy web page on the Aboriginal Governance Index View a 1-page summary of the Aboriginal Governance Index rankings (PDF) View the Aboriginal Governance Index report (PDF) View the June 15, 2006 Frontier Centre for Public Policy press release View the June 15, 2006 Winnipeg Free Press article (DOC) Sources: Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Winnipeg Free Press |
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