The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation has expanded their mandate to have more opportunities for investment in different projects.
Alberta’s Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson says groups can now invest in major agriculture, telecommunications and transportation projects and related infrastructure.
“So it gives these people an opportunity to expand some of these businesses that create a lot of jobs not only on reserves but off as well. I think it’s really going to benefit a lot of communities because not everyone is blessed with oil and gas so we have to look at all areas and we’ve been listening to the people and then seeing in different areas what culturally suits them better.”
Wilson says this can create more economic opportunities in Indigenous communities.
“With the projects we’ve got out the door now like the cascade project in Edson, you can see what’s happened in that community. They tell me it’s up to 1500 jobs created with that project alone so the community has really benefited with all of the food and hotels and people even renting out their basement suits to accommodate all the people that have moved into the community. When these bigger projects so forward in a community, it can really kick start their economy.”
We talked to the Minister on the Trending 55 Hot Seat, you can hear that full discussion below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
