Dr. Robert L. Bish is Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria, where he was Professor of Public Administration and Economics from 1981 through 1998. He was also Co-director of the Local Government Institute from its establishment in 1995 through 2002. Dr. Bish is also on the Board of Directors of the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics.
The following three reports examine the issue of First Nation taxation of non-member leaseholders on reserves. They also examine the implications of different property assessment criteria for First Nation decision-making.
Many First Nations purchase some government services from other organizations. This report covers in detail what such contracts should include.
This report examines the problems of debt finance for small governments and provides the rationale for the First Nations Finance Authority as a co-op for First Nation debt finance.
The first study was done as background for the Taxation Amendments to the Indian Act It demonstrated that municipalities that were taxing leaseholders on reserve lands within municipal boundaries were not providing proper services to those lands and provided evidence that First Nations should assume tax jurisdiction to go with their service responsibilities. The second study provides detailed case studies and the third is a study of province-wide implications.
The following two reports examine First Nation government from a service delivery and federalism perspective.