The Kamloops-based chief of the nation’s First Nations Tax Commission is pushing for a streamlined process to do capital projects on reserves.

Chief commissioner Manny Jules, a former Kamloops Indian Band chief, tells NL News the commission is working to create a National Infrastructure Institution.

He says that would allow the federal government to monetize capital projects on reserves, the way it does in municipalities.

He used the newly-built, $5-million-dollar reservoir on Tk’emlúps as an example.

“Instead of building one reservoir at a time on First Nations land in Canada, you could build 10, or 100,” Jules says.

“One of the things we want to do is be able to partner with private enterprise as well. One of the ironies I find in this life is that the only true private-public partnership on a reserve in Canada is building a provincial jail on the Osoyoos reserve. I think we can do a lot better than that.”

Jules says First Nations provide significant tax revenue to federal and provincial governments.

“Just to give you an idea, I think there’s about 110 First Nations across the country collecting in excess of $100 million annually in real property tax. But off of those same properties, the federal and provincial governments are collecting $700 million. And so there’s an inequity there.”

Jules says this institution has been in the works for several years, and says legislation could be tabled next spring.