First Nation fish farmers in Clayoquot Sound

Moses Martin lives in one of the most beautiful places in Canada, Tla-o-qui-aht Indian Reserve, Long Beach, Tofino, B.C.. “I come from a family of artists and I’m the one who can’t draw a straight line,” he jokes. He works in the region as liaison with Creative Salmon, the net-pen fish farm company that grows Chinook salmon around giant Meares Island amid Clayoquot Sound.
      

Martin always worked hard at expanding the economic footprint of Tla-o-qui-aht in the region's economic activity. He recently acquired a 24’ Harbercraft aluminum boat to course the pristine waters of his home, “We do guiding, fishing charters, bear watching and whale watching tours, and tours of Creative Salmon fish farm sites. Farm sites are found on the east side of Meares Island about 20 km out of Tofino.”
     

Tla-o-qui-aht has a few members working for Creative Salmon, “We have a few community members working on sites. Creative Salmon’s workforce is about 25 percent First Nation and we are working toward 50 percent.” Expanding the number calls for training which is on the job training by and large, said Martin. 
     

“They are not bad paying jobs,” and he noted in summer the workforce increases as students hire on at $15 per hour. Farm sites employ people year-round and employees go in and out from Tofino daily since the locations are not as remote as many of the farm sites on the east site of Vancouver Island, whereas up in Klemtu sites owned by Marine Harvest Canada are distinctly remote.
     

Tla-o-qui-aht members find employment at Lions Gate Fisheries which operates a fish processing plant in Tofino. Jobs in all facets of the industry are year-round. Meanwhile the tourism industry is beginning to pick up in Tofino and  Martin has the 24’ aluminum touring boat moored at the government dock in Tofino. 
     

“The business of tourism is beginning to pick up and it’s busy in Tofino right now. It has had a bit of a slow start,” and experienced a decline over the winter in what is normally a year- round destination area.
     

Creative Salmon’s Tim Rundle said the company continues to grow Chinook salmon in the usual fashion to 15 lbs dressed and delivered fresh to market. Creative Salmon like others presently grow the fish in a relatively unsure regulatory market.
     

“It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s DFO that regulates the fish farm industry or the province, as long as it doesn’t set it back.” The general criticism of netpen fish farming regards escapes, disease, and conditions on the bottom beneath net-pens. Creative Salmon has learned over the years, “The big lesson is we do it low density because if you crowd the fish they don’t get the proper nutrition.”
     

Laurie Jensen is the Environmental, Licences and Community Relations Manager Mainstream Canada (A Division of Ewos Canada Ltd., which also grows fish in net-pens on the west side of Vancouver Island. “Fish farming is important for producing healthy food for a growing population of the world,” said Laurie. 
     

“Our aim is to produce food in a sustainable way so that our practices do not reduce the potential for future food production based on the same natural resources.” She noted that Mainstream Canada has achieved full certification in the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard for all their BC operations.

Removing one roadblock to growing First Nation communities

Five Nations Energy Inc. provides an essential service in a remote region, an electric transmission service that serves three First Nation communities on the shores of James Bay. Joe Gaboury is the General Manager of FNEI, “First Nations Energy is the only First Nations-owned electricity transmission company in Canada. It is a federally incorporated non-profit corporation owned equally by Attawapiskat Power Corporation, Fort Albany Power Corporation, and Kashechewan Power Corporation.” The electricity, in addition to powering these Cree Nation communities, runs down a 90 km extension to the De Beers Canada Victor Mine that opened in 2008.
     

De Beers is producing a quarter of a billion dollars in diamonds each year and employing 400 people. Gaboury said the mine has been good for the area, creating jobs for people especially in Attawapiskat and Fort Albany. “They say it has a 12-year life span and the company is continuing to explore leases in the James Bays Lowlands for more diamonds. They may be here a lot longer.”

      

Gaboury is a businessman, educated in accounting at Laurentian University and University of Sudbury and has a Masters in Business Administration. He began to manage FNEI late in 2008 after a three-year stint running Attawapiskat Power Corporation brought him to complete awareness of transmission operations. His task is straight-forward, “Increase reliability for the customers and keep the system growing.” DeBeers added an extra line to the transmission system to increase the wattage capacity.

    

 Delivery of enough electricity changes the way communities operate, “Electric heating is displacing the use of wood energy in heating homes,” said Gaboury. “The system is able to support this, nevertheless, upgrading the transmission system is an on-going challenge.” Delivering this much electricity is important, “Making the communities expandable was one of the driving forces to developing a transmission network,” said Gaboury. “Diesel was restricting the size of the communities, it was loud, it was an environmental mess, and these communities had outgrown the capacity of diesel electrical generation.”
      

He said a regional transmission grid linked to Hydro One takes away all the former constraints on schools, recreation facilities, and the ability to add new housing subdivisions. “It changes the game; at least it removes one road-block to expanding these communities."
     

Each town-site on the western shore of James Bay, from the southerly Ft. Albany, to Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat at the other end, has established its own distribution corporation, which do billing, service, and general maintenance, he explained, “They each have their own employees and operations.”

      

FNEI has four full-time employees working maintenance and emergency services. “We’ve been going ten years now and we’re still here. It does offer us a bit of notoriety,”  Gaboury finds it sadly amusing that they are the only First Nation high voltage transmission company in Canada, but, “it allows us to serve as a role model.”