Kaiela Institute

The Kaiela Institute is a First Nations-led analysis and policy think tank. This submission details how:

• The colonial system ensured that all First Nations economic assets were stolen without recompense or provision of any other compensatory resources to maintain their livelihood.
• The imposed legal and reserve system destroyed the supportive value of communities and families and effectively imprisoned and prevented First Nations people from participating in the growing economy.
• The imposed legal and financial systems discriminated against First Nations people so that any economic support would only be at the poverty line at best and this was intended to facilitate control.
• Institutional structures like banks combined with the informal colonial cultural systems of systemic racism to exclude First Nations people from any economic opportunities.
• Many of the systemic, institutional and cultural barriers still operate in a discriminatory manner today.