How a B.C. native band went from poverty to prosperity

We’re a horse culture, and we’d like to get the inmates working with horses. I think it would be good for them to be outside, learning to deal with these beautiful animals that depend on them every day for food and exercise.

Clarence Louie

The Osoyoos Indian Band is arguably the most business-minded First Nation in Canada. So what’s the secret to their success?

by Jake MacDonald
photographs by Troy Moth

The first thing that strikes you about the Osoyoos Indian Band is the postcard setting of its reserve. Deep in British Columbia’s southern Okanagan, it’s surrounded by weathered mountains and mirrored lakes. This is the hottest and driest part of Canada, a northern extension of the Sonoran Desert, where rattlesnakes inhabit sagebrush canyons and noonday summer temperatures can hit 38 C.

The Osoyoos Indian Reserve, in British Columbia's southern Okanagan, spans some 32,000 acres.

The second striking thing about the Osoyoos Indian Band is that it’s not poor. In fact, it’s arguably the most prosperous First Nation in Canada, with virtually no unemployment among the band’s 520 members. Job-seekers from elsewhere flock in to work at the band’s businesses, which last year saw $26 million in revenue and $2.5 million in net profits. Meanwhile, the reserve’s impressive school teaches native heritage and the Okanagan language.
The third singular thing about the Osoyoos Indian Band is its hard-ass leader, Chief Clarence Louie. If you ask for an appointment, he sets the tone right off the top. “Be here at 9 o’clock sharp,” he texts. “No Indian time.”...Continue reading...