By Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com

Good governance, economic growth and engaging youth are just a few items on the table at a First Nations conference that kicked off in Thunder Bay Wednesday.

The Matawa First Nations second annual Community Governance and Economic Development Conference is a chance for First Nation community members, leaders, industry and government to discuss the best way forward on economic opportunities such as the ring of fire. Matawa economic development manager Brian Davey said the conference is about relationship building between all interested partners in the region.

"We want to make sure we do it right that we make the right local decisions that will have an impact on everybody not only our own communities but all of Northern Ontario."

Davey said benefits such as job opportunities and training for First Nation communities will always be a challenge as the region’s mining activity increases. He said both community and industry have shown a "strong willingness" to work together during the exploration phase but joint ventures and training need to be in place before actual mining begins.

"Getting out front of the actual development, that’s our challenge," Davey said.

Davey said he’s encouraged by the large amount of youth participating at the conference.

"The obvious benefits are employment, job opportunity and training. There’s a lot of youth who are here today that are beginning to see what the future holds," Davey said.

Emily Anderson, 16, is an aspiring actress and fashion designer from White Sand First Nation. She came to the conference to learn about leadership and self-governance in her community. Anderson said First Nation’s youth need to attend conferences such as the Matawa economic conference and engage their community.

"If we can inspire our youth and encourage them to be successful…I think that we could get somewhere," Anderson said.

Anderson said native youth need more success stories and role models from their community.

"A lot of the youth don’t have enough confidence because of what they hear, stories of what happened to our people, like residential schools," Anderson said. "They just don’t have that belief in themselves that they could change."

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stand Beardy said First Nations people need to become educated and learn how business works to become strong partners with outside interests like the mining industry.

While there are opportunities now, Beardy said First Nations governance under the current federal system isn’t working.

"The way things happened in the last hundred years for us under the Indian Act isn’t working there are many, many programs run by government yet our situation has not changed," Beadry said. "I’m telling the people here we have to take action ourselves we have to make sure our young people are educated to be participants in the economy."

Beardy said First Nation communities need to move toward good governance, accountability and responsibility in order to become full partners and participants in the expected opportunities from the ring of fire. An important first step is for the Canadian government to recognize and honour collaborative treaty rights under the constitution, said Beardy.

"There are opportunities and it’s up to us to take advantage," Beardy said. "But in order to do that we must be prepared."