Warren Weir, Coordinator of Graduate Aboriginal Business Education Programs, College of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan, addressed the 6th World Congress of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management and the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (ANZAM/IFSAM), held on the Gold Coast in July.

His paper, titled Indigenous Land Claims: From Contention to Negotiation and Enterprise, was co-authored with Robert R. Anderson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Administration at the University of Regina. It examines the shift in the policies of Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments from contesting Indigenous claims to land, resources and some form of 'nationhood' to a policy of negotiation and enterprise development. They have found that, increasingly, the respective state governments see the settlement of Indigenous claims, less as a cost, but more as a vehicle for improving Indigenous socio-economic circumstances, a long held position of Indigenous people.

The paper also explores three land claims settlements in Canada, paying particular attention to the economic development aspects of each.

Warren's work is now focussed on Aboriginal co-operative development in Canada. He believes that there are key lessons to be learnt from Aboriginal Co-operatives in Australia. During his visit he met with staff at Tranby Aboriginal College, which is part of the Co-operative for Aborigines Ltd; located in Glebe. He also met with senior research staff at ACCORD, who provided him with information regarding co-operatives in Australia, along with a listing of over 30 Aboriginal co-operatives located in New South Wales.

Warren plans to return to Sydney in the near future, to continue his comparative research on Indigenous co-operatives in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Canada.

Information about Aboriginal economic development and co-operative development in Canada can be obtained from the following web sites:

• http://www.edo.ca/ is the site for the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers, a Canadian Indigenous organization that focuses on education and professional development for economic development officers working in and with Aboriginal communities or organizations.
• http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/index_e.html takes you to the Canadian federal government's site for Indian and Northern Affairs.
• For hundreds of US and Canadian (and Australian) Aboriginal links go to Bill's Aboriginal Links.
• http://www.canadianaboriginal.com and http://www.turtleisland.org highlights Canadian Aboriginal news and information on a daily basis.
• http://coop-studies.usask.ca/aboriginal/aboriginalcoops.html links to A Report on Aboriginal Co-operatives in Canada: Current Situation and Potential for Growth, by Dr Lou Hammond Ketilson and Dr Ian MacPherson.
• For a 2001 paper on the Socio-Economic Profile of Aboriginal Co-operatives in Canada visit http://www.agr.gc.ca/policy/coop/publi_e.html. The Co-operative Secretariat was created in 1987 from the Co-operatives Section of Agriculture Canada to improve the relationship between Canadian co-operatives and the numerous federal departments and agencies known to have legislation or policies affecting co-operatives.
• The Centre for the study of Cooperatives, University of Saskatchewan, is at http://coop-studies.usask.ca.
• The Aboriginal Business Education Programs site is http://www.commerce.usask.ca/aboriginal.

Warren Weir may be reached at weir@commerce.usask.ca and his web site is http://www.commerce.usask.ca/faculty/weir.