The Startup Canada Awards ceremony at the CN Tower on Tuesday focused foursquare on the country’s future, paying special attention to the potential of the native community and on one young entrepreneur, 17-year-old Alex Gillis of Halifax.

The Canadian entrepreneurial organization presented awards in eight categories, and Atlantic Canada came away with two of them – Gillis for young entrepreneur of the year, and RtTech Software of Moncton for Innovator of the year.

Read our Report on the Atlantic Canadian Awards

Startup Canada also presented a lifetime achievement award to former Prime Minister Paul Martin, the founder of the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative and the Capital for Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship Fund, which invests in Aboriginal business.

Interviewed on stage by columnist Rick Spence, Martin congratulated Startup Canada for uniting and promoting the startup community in just four years. Entrepreneurship will clearly determine Canada’s economic future, he said.

And this is one reason, he said, that the country has to recognize and promote entrepreneurship by native people. He said entrepreneurship is rich in aboriginal culture. And given Canada’s aging population, the country must recognize that the fastest growing segment of its population is the aboriginal community.

“Entrepreneurship is part-and-parcel of the Aboriginal DNA,” Martin said in an earlier interview with Startup Canada. “The first industry in this country after European contact was the fur trade. The fur trade was built by First Nations and Métis entrepreneurs. There is a huge number of Aboriginal entrepreneurs in Canada today; it’s just not big enough. We wanted to do whatever we could do to encourage it.”

Martin is also fighting to improve aboriginal education through his educational initiative, which is working to improve curriculum and funding for aboriginal schools.

He called on Startup Canada to create a category for next year’s awards for native entrepreneurs.

Martin delivered his speech with his customary charm and wit. When he left the stage his first gesture was to shake hands with Gillis. “We’re actually the same age,” he joked.

Gillis had drawn attention throughout the evening because he represents the future of entrepreneurship in the country. Several speakers mentioned how impressed they were with the teen’s success in business. Gillis and his co-founder Aristides Milios have launched Bitness, which helps small business owners improve efficiency. It uses devices called beacons to track where, when and how long customers are in a store. This allows the store owner to understand the store’s peak hours, allowing for better staffing decisions.

It’s worth noting that in the first two years of the awards, five Atlantic Canadians have claimed national awards and three of them have fallen under the theme of youth and education. It highlights the region’s success in nurturing young talent. As well as Gillis’ award this year, Startup Canada in 2014 recognized the University of New Brunswick and Mary Kilfoil of Dalhousie University.

Saint John investor and mentor Gerry Pond also took the stage Tuesday to present the Senior Entrepreneur Award to Tom Fash of Edmonton. Pond said he liked the idea of “One old fart giving another old fart an award.”