Native Benefits Plan named Aboriginal Business of the Year

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Sylvain Picard believes it is the service Native Benefits Plan provides to its customers and the many business partnerships it has created that earned the company the honor of being named Aboriginal Business of the Year at this year's Mishtapew Awards gala.

Picard is executive director of Native Benefits Plan, which was originally formed in 1979 as a pension plan for Aboriginal communities. Initially created by and for the Attikamek Montagnais Council, the business has since expanded, both in the services it provides, and to the clientele it provides them to.

The pension plan side of the business has definitely grown, Picard explained.

"At this time, we have in our pension plan nearly 50 enterprises, and nearly 2,800 members for the pension plan, for the defined benefits plan," he said.

"We have another pension plan. It's for the public security. It's a pension plan with maybe 15 employers and nearly 100 members. It's for police members and firefighters and other employees of the public security."

In addition to the pension plans, Native Benefits Plans also offers insurance to Quebec's Native communities.

Ten years ago, the company worked with SSQ-Vie to develop group insurance for its clientele, with almost 2,000 members involved in the plan. Three years ago, general insurance for band councils and other community members was added to the mix, with Native Benefits Plan working with Aon Reed Stenhouse and the AIG. And about a year ago, the company began offering residential and automobile insurance to its members.

Although Native Benefits Plan currently doesn't serve all of Quebec's Aboriginal communities, that is something Picard sees changing in the future.

"We have a lot of people, but at this time we don't serve the Cree and Inuit. But we will try to develop this new clientele in the near future," he said.