The Aboriginal Newspaper of British
Columbia & Yukon
Top News - July - 2003
Published July 7, 2003
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First Nations team up for economic opportunities
Yukon using best business practices
Interpretive centre opens in former residential school
This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the July 2003 issue of Raven's Eye. If you are not receiving your own copy of Raven's Eye, then you have missed out on a lot.Click here for Raven's Eye subscription information.
First Nations team up for economic opportunities
Joan Taillon, Raven's Eye Writer, WhistlerA joint plan by the Squamish and Lil'Wat Nations to build a $15 million cultural centre within the resort municipality of Whistler got a $7.7 million shot in the arm on National Aboriginal Day.
On June 21, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Robert Nault and Premier Gordon Campbell announced that both governments will ante up a share of the cost to develop 1.6 hectares of provincial Crown land opposite the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Hotel.
The federal government's regional partnership fund is contributing $4.7 million of the cost of construction, and the province's economic measures funding is contributing $3 million. The federal government also spent $392,500 on the project- planning phase in 2001 and 2002. The two First Nations will raise their portion of construction costs through the private sector.
The cultural centre is expected to provide a big boost to economic development opportunities and job creation for both the Squamish and Lil'Wat nations.
The First Nations have signed a 30-year lease with Land and Water BC, with a 30-year right to renewal and an option to buy the land, on which a 25,000 square foot main building and another 6,000 square feet of eco-tour buildings will be constructed.
The cultural centre will house a conference centre, crafts market, theatre, restaurant, cafeteria, gift shop and gallery, and will be a jumping-off place for tour-guide expeditions. Much of the land around the centre will remain undeveloped except for interpretive trails.
On June 26, Squamish Chief Gibby Jacob said, "We're totally excited about it."
In March 2001, the Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations signed a protocol agreement to formalize a process of continuing to work together, share resources and opportunities, and jointly protect Aboriginal title and rights.
Fifty jobs will be created in construction, which is expected to begin in about a year if most of the funding is in place, according to Jacob, and be completed around the middle of 2005.
Asked how big a challenge it was for the First Nations to raise $7 millon or more on their own, he said they had contacted a professional fundraiser and "hopefully it's going to be no challenge, but the likelihood of us getting every dollar and cent is probably better in the range of, I would say, around 50-50. We've still got a ways to go yet, but we're totally confident that we're going to succeed in getting all the funding for this. We're going to build it; we're going to staff it; we're going to own it and we're going to be big players in the resort municipality of Whistler and re-establishing our presence in our traditional territory in that area."
Jacob, who was appointed to the position of land claims co-ordinator and political spokesman for his First Nation in April 2000, indicated that the Squamish and Lil'wat nations were more interested in the final result than the path they were taking to achieve economic prosperity for their people.
He conceded they were leasing land from the province that was rightfully their own land to start with, but said it was the "path of least resistance."
Jacob explained, "If you want to get into business, you've got to have the ability to go with the flow. And you know, we could spend a lot of money litigating, which would eat into the development dollars and profits."
The "rent" they'll pay is "pretty close to negligible," anyway, he said. The Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations, with a combined population of about 5,000 members, have agreed to pay $24,864 a year for the commercial development on the property. The $1 fee for land used for non-commercial community purposes has been waived.
The chief is confident they'll obtain title to the land in the future. "We always viewed that as the ultimate objective, was to own the land, and through our negotiations we negotiated that clause, so at some point in time when we're totally in the black and confident that this thing's going to give us the ability to shake all the dollars we can out of the tourists, we may just pull the trigger and exercise our options.
He said some sectors are naysaying the First Nations' ability to manage a project on this scale because of lack of experience. He said they're prepared to hire whatever help they need on contract while training their own people in management, eco-tourism, cultural tourism and any other skills they identify as necessary to running their own show.
"That's the thing about having money, you can buy expertise, right?"
When the cultural centre is operating, it is expected to generate 15 full-time jobs and up to 31 full- and part-time jobs during peak times of the year.
The cultural centre will provide spin-off opportunities for others among their people who want to be entrepreneurs, Jacob said.
"Our people are patient. From my perspective, you know, the time horizons we're talking about, a lot of things will change, and my view of the First Nations' world is it's going to change totally for the better, and we're just getting a start at it. And our thoughts are that when you start moving down the road, you need successes-First Nations in general need successes you can point at-and for us to be successful only means that we're setting a trail for the other First Nations. That's how I view it anyways."
Both the premier and the Indian Affairs Minister linked the announcement of the cultural centre funding to the 2010 Winter Olympics in their statement on National Aboriginal Day.
The Indian Affairs minister said, "Not only will [the centre] bring jobs and industry to this area; it will showcase the best in contemporary and traditional First Nations' cultures to visitors from around the world. It is also a tangible sign of the partnership with First Nations that is integral to Canada's 2010 bid for the Olympic Winter Games."
On July 2, they learned that Vancouver was successful in its bid to bring the Olympic Winter Games to that city.
Yukon using best business practices
Joan Taillon, Raven's Eye Writer, EdmontonIn mid-May, Edmonton hosted the third Meet the North Conference and Exposition, which carried the theme Best Practices for Business Success in the North.
It was hailed by many as the most important gathering of northern business people, economic development officers and community leaders in Canada this year.
The purpose of the conference was to focus on finding effective ways to handle the business and political challenges of doing business in the North. The Northern Investment Symposium that ran in conjunction with the conference included northern investors looking for investment capital and investors and venture companies from the south interested in exploring northern opportunities.
Grand Chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) Ed Schultz attended with a delegation from the 11 nations he represents, along with regional corporation representatives from 17 First Nations, "three of which are from northern British Columbia, which are part of our regional corporation," said Schultz. Yukon premier Dennis Fentie also was part of the Yukon delegation. So was Chief Rick O'Brien from Kwanlin Dun (not a member of CYFN), and Northern Native Broadcasting from Whitehorse.
They networked around topics such as best practices in regional economic development, regional transportation, northern workforce practices, and ¡ building Aboriginal relations. All aspects of financing were also covered during formal and informal meetings between May 12 and 14.
"We've been actively negotiating for self-government and land claim settlements in the Yukon for over 30 years, and that's nearing its conclusion," said Ed Schultz, who is 40 and in the first year of a three-year term. "And now we want to start promoting economic development and other activities, so that we can start generating our own source of revenue for these new, fledgling self-governing systems."
Schultz said eight Yukon first nations have settled their claims to date.
"There's 14 in the territory proper, and we expect three more to be concluded within the next year, and the remaining three to be done within the next couple years."
Schultz said that the long process was necessary "because of the comprehensiveness of the agreements," but the concluded agreements "bring our First Nations into a level of authority equivalent to the federal Crown over a lot of subject matter-programs and services, land and resource management over 16,000 square miles, as well as co-management systems with the territorial government."
Some of CYFN's main business ventures now are Rab Energy Company (R2000 window-type systems), a satellite company in Alaska and a home company in Whitehorse. One of their First Nations has major shareholdings and partnership with the new Yukon airline (Air North) with 737 service between Whitehorse, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. They also have New West Technologies (internet technology), and tourism operations that include guiding, fishing camps and cultural experiences.
In addition to CYFN's big business partners, Schultz said, "Of course, we continue to promote and lend support to our First Nation entrepreneurs."
The grand chief discussed his people's challenges with Raven's Eye.
"One of the biggest challenges facing us right now is building the capacity necessary to have a reasonable chance of being successful in business ventures. Historically, like most Indigenous peoples, particularly in the North, our people got really conditioned to the social system of Indian Affairs, and so now with this new system of governance where we're striving for self-sufficiency, it is taking a major exercise in re-orientating our own citizens to the objective of becoming self-sufficient and becoming less dependent on social programs or public programs and trying to strive for success on their own merits."
Schultz added, though, that the new approach was "certainly striking a chord" with their youth.
Another challenge they face, he said, was in getting business, industry and governments to acknowledge the skills and talent that is starting to emerge in their territories "and to recognize that we're very business-savvy, intelligent, and very due-diligent in our approach to enterprises, and that we're not going to be made fools of. And that we're prepared to do some very serious business, but ... we're not prepared to entertain business partnerships that only speak to training and employment opportunities any longer.
"We want to talk about some meaningful equity positions. We want to talk about some business ventures that have a reasonable chance, with some good work behind it ... that would turn a profit, in addition to those jobs and training."
Schultz said First Nations have separated business from government in the Yukon. "I'm here as the grand chief and I represent government. Our regional corporate leaders here represent the business side."
In the North, he said, "Our business people are having their systems set up so they can be at arm's length from us, make independent decisions and move forward, without getting tied up so much into the governance process.
"Our governance system is designed and based on consensus-building. And of course, consensus-building takes a lot of time. And in the business community, which is very competitive, sometimes time isn't available to reach that consensus. So what we have done is we set up all of our corporations under the general articles of law within the Yukon and Canada, because those very same corporations may be trying to access some of the resources or do activity on our own lands, which we will be regulating as governing entities."
At home, Schultz has a keen interest in the future of Native languages and their link to maintaining First Nation culture. Schultz said although he doesn't speak his language, Aboriginal languages are "a strategic focus of my particular role right now." The Yukon has eight Aboriginal languages, but Schultz said the public education system is mostly English and French.
"Under self-government," Schultz said, "we can devolve education or change it."
He added education is a priority of the CYFN this year, and "Maybe we'll know by fall which way to go on education."
Raised in non-Native foster homes, Schultz was a teenaged school dropout who drifted to the city and got into alcohol and a self-destructive lifestyle.
But he saw the the only way to help himself and his people was to turn his life around. He got a trade as a welder. "It took five or six years to kick my nasty habits-except smoking," he said.
He started doing land survey work and learning what First Nations were attempting to do to improve their lot. So he got involved in community development, and "spent 16 years working with lawyers." Schultz studied business management and worked on land claims, natural resources and in administration with Yukon First Nations and Aboriginal groups for 10 years before he entered politics in 1992.
Schultz believes future generations in the Yukon can have the best of both worlds. With such a large youth population, he said, the challenge is to maintain their cultural identity and distinctiveness. On the positive side, he said, Yukon youth want professional careers and do not want to settle for dependence on transfer payments.
Interpretive centre opens in former residential school
Troy Hunter, Raven's Eye Writer, CranbrookIn the early morning of June 19, bagpipes called in more than 50 people to witness a ceremonial event near Cranbrook.
The Ktunaxa Kinbasket Interpretive Centre, which is housed inside a former residential school, held its grand opening. The ceremony began with the bringing in of an eagle staff adorned with seven feathers representing the seven bands of the Ktunaxa Nation. A prayer song and an honour song were performed by the Sukni Singers, a local drum group.
Then a podium was unveiled with a picture on its face. The photograph is an historic image of when St. Eugene Mission was a residential school operated by the Catholic church. The photo depicts a procession in which a tall cross, affixed to a staff, was carried from the mission building.
Ironically, the interpretive centre's grand opening included carrying a staff into the building, but with the eagle feathers instead of a cross.
Chief Sophie Pierre and Kathryn Teneese, chief negotiator for the Ktunaxa Nation carried the eagle staff down through the elm alley, while the Sukni Singers performed an honour song. No ribbons were cut, but the gates were opened wide for the procession.
Pierre noted that, "In 1984, our late Elder Mary Paul said that since it was within the Kootenay Indian Residential School that the culture of the Kootenay Indian was taken away, that it should be within that building that it is returned."
The Ktunaxa Kinbasket Interpretive Centre is owned and operated by the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council. Pierre stated, "This is our place for us to tell our stories."
The interpretive centre is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.