Does Entrepreneurship Meet the Aspirations of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples?

Abstract

This paper interrogates the notion of Indigenous Entrepreneurship through an analysis of the literature claiming the concept. [Indigenous is a term used in Canada to refer to Aboriginal, Native, Metis, Inuit, First Nations and others who self-identify]. Five findings are described in the paper, which seem to demonstrate both the uneasy relationship between Indigeneity and academia and the tensions between western ideas of entrepreneurship and values held by many Indigenous communities. Although, entrepreneurship is widely accepted as a tool for economic development (including among Indigenous leaders) the theories of western entrepreneurship likely need significant modification to reconcile with Indigenous culture. Studies found in the research often described cases where entrepreneurship was used as a tool for development and included references to culture and practice, but discussion of the interface between the two appeared to be lacking. Problematic for the field of Indigenous Entrepreneurship is that the academic work found in the field was often in “B” or lower category publications indicating difficulty in reconciling Indigenous Worldviews with accepted academic principles.