The Osoyoos Indian Band Business Development Corporation, owner of nine companies employing more than 1,000 people, has not one Indian on its board of directors. Business isn't about race, [Clarence Louie] explains, it's about expertise: "There's a group of natives that feels entitled, and that needs to be changed to a culture of performance. You don't hand over the keys to a multimillion-dollar business to someone who hasn't earned it. That's a recipe for bankruptcy."

Chief Louie has no patience with aboriginals fixated on past wrongs and sticking Band-Aids on the consequences of poverty. "I like dealing in reality," he says. "A lot of elders still hold up the British flag and talk about promises made 100 years ago. Personally, I don't have any faith in the Queen."

Nor does he make apologies to those who say he's abandoned native values. "There's no culture in poverty," he reminds them, and chides those who follow the "red road" while collecting a social assistance cheque. The community built the beautiful, $2.5-million Nk'Mip Desert and First Nations Heritage Centre to promote aboriginal culture and history. Every Christmas the band distributes a dividend to band members, 12 per cent of its business profits.