The Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics is a not-for-profit institution dedicated to delivering certificate and diploma programs in First Nations Tax Administration, First Nations Economics and eventually First Nations Public Finance. Tulo will create capacity to build the legal, administrative and technical frameworks for markets to work on indigenous lands.
The Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics arose from a ten year Indian Taxation Advisory Board (ITAB) research project. ITAB began the project to support development of First Nation economies and help expand the First Nation property tax base. The research was also undertaken to support the evolution of the ITAB into the First Nation Tax Commission.
This project is a systematic study into the role of the public sector in accounting for the inadequate First Nation investment climate. Click here to learn more about the key research findings of this study.
Incorporated on January 31, 2008, the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics was established by the ITAB in 2007 as a legacy institution to deliver education and training certificates and diplomas and conduct research in the areas of First Nation taxation, public finance and economics.
A number of First Nations would like to develop their lands. Many of them cannot do so because under the current system it costs four to six times more to develop First Nation lands than it does to develop non-First Nation lands. Tulo was established to transfer the knowledge, sample laws and administrative best practices to reduce these costs so First Nations are no longer at a competitive disadvantage. The centre will create capacity for markets to work on indigenous lands. Tulo is the Chinook word for earned profit. Chinook was the historical trade language used by First Nations from present day Alaska to California.
A number of First Nations have successfully facilitated investment on their lands. For example, in 1991 an acre of land along highway 97 in Westbank cost about $10,000 per acre. Today that same acre of land costs almost $1 million. At the Sun Rivers development in Kamloops an acre of land cost $8,000 in 1996 and today that same acre of land costs about $750,000.
Although Kamloops and Westbank used different approaches, in both cases they created the legal and administrative certainty that allowed markets to work. The dramatic increase in property values is evidence of this. Tulo is committed to transferring these best practices so that other First Nations can experience similar economic growth.
