God Opens Doors by Angelique Merasty Levac (with Mack McColl)

Angelique Merasty Levac is author of a book entitled God Opens Doors, Kisemanitow Peyohtena Iskwahtem, in print September 2012. The publisher is Indian Life Books of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and they have followed her art and business career and admired her Christian walk for many years. 


God Opens Doors – Intertribal Life Ministries

Angelique with granddaughter Mercedez

     

"I was born at Midnight Lake, Manitoba," said Angelique Merasty Levac. "It is bush and nobody lives there,” in the far northern reaches of central Canada.

Marcus Alfred, a monumental carver on the west coast of North America

RIP Marcus Alfred

McColl Magazine Features: In Memory of Marcus Alfred; Second Video Features his Dad, Wayne Alfred, Alert Bay Artists of the Coastal Tradition

Hydropower development is about relationship and early stage planning

Veresen Inc. is engaged in construction of a hydropower project in northwest B.C. that speaks to the development opportunities in this area of the province. The pace of development is indicated by the demand for skilled labour in a growing number of projects in the northwest Pacific. Alexi Zawadzki, Vice President, Hydropower Development, Veresen Inc says a 20 MW project cluster is under construction on Dasque Creek and nearby Middle Creek.
 

“We signed three Impact Benefit Agreements with Kitselas, Lax Kw'alaams, and Metlakatla First Nations. The consultation process took three years with Kitselas and Coast Tsimshian business developers,” says Zawadzki, “who are savvy on training and contract opportunities. We were flexible in discussion and careful in finalizing these IBAs so as to consider the many interests came to the table from each organization. I am very pleased to see a new community bus for Lax Kw’alaams and a rescue vessel in the works for Metlakatla, made possible by our project.”
 

First Nation contractors have been clearing the penstock and access routes for a year. The timeline of the Dasque Project calls for completion in 2013. “We had a tough winter last year plus flooding issues on Skeena which threatened the 20 km access road. We had to build up the road during freshet, which was conducted by a First Nations contractor. Winter road maintenance was conducted by a local top-notch First Nation contractor, which we hired for a second year.” With two large dumps of snow already the crew has been out maintaining access to the construction site for a few weeks already.

 

“We have a turbine installed at Middle Creek,” says Zawadzki, “and we are putting in penstock on both projects. Soon we will be starting construction of the water intakes,” on this $75 million run-of-river hydro development with a 40 year electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro. When the power comes on stream depends on a 20 km transmission line being finished, “which is relatively a simple build on this project.” The transmission line interconnects at the Skeena substation near Terrace.

Veresen is B.C.-oriented in pursuit of new energy, “What we find is a lot of opportunities for First Nation business to get involved, including civil works, and transmission line construction, and it ought to be a focus in the education system to build the skill sets and capacity for working in construction. In this territory there is a concentration on forestry in First Nations and it's done them well but there is an opportunity to diversify by expanding skill sets into construction in order to mitigate the ebb and flow of the lumber markets. There are opportunities in project management, scheduling, concrete works, earth works, electrical/mechanical and projects across the province are demanding people with construction skills.”

Recruiting First Nation personnel is integral, “We have an office administrator in Terrace from Kitselas who is a very competent, well- educated professional. However, had she had difficulty finding the right school until she landed at Capilano University in Vancouver. It's a matter of finding the right fit for learning.”
 

Veresen Inc is working on another hydro development located north of Squamish. The Culliton Project is in the permitting stage, and the company has an IBA with the Squamish First Nation that has developed over a number of years, providing once more a process for contract opportunities, employment and training. That's a $50 million investment by Veresen into an area that contains a strong First Nation vision, “The Squamish have great understanding of the investment and top leadership in balancing economic development and environmental stewardship.”
 

Veresen Inc operates across North America building new infrastructure that deliver jobs. Over 350 people have been put to work thus far in the Dasque project, he says, “and it will add value to community. We try to hire locally for there are advantages in having people who know the terrain, the relationships, and where the skills are available. We are in a situation in the northwest Pacific where a lot of other projects have drained the labour pool. It’s great to see people back to work in the north.”
 

Veresen sees a bright future in power development in BC and does it in various ways, “We do wind power, gas-fired power generation, and hydro throughout the country and we see a bright future in partnerships with First Nation groups. We always engage First Nations group at the earliest stage, when the project is just a concept. The people we deal with have a depth of understanding in culture, environment, and land use planning. We have a history of conducting environmental and permitting work with First Nations service providers. This allows us to plan projects to fit the landscape. At the end of the day, it’s about relationships, doing our best by others, and if something fails we have a level of trust to fall back on.”

Minigoo Fisheries alive in lobster fishery once again

Minigoo Fisheries re-opened for business in the month of September 2012. It may be a modest celebration but this is a major achievement. Lobster licenses and processing will operate under the same name thus everything was sorted out to the satisfaction of trustees and business in the lobster and fish plant is proceeding as of the first week of September 2012, says Don Bernard, general manager. They employ 70 people at the Minigoo Fisheries processing facility. It is nine months a year of employment for members of the Mi’Kmaq Confederacy of PEI (MCPEI) and others in the surroundings of Lennox Island First Nation. That is the hope.

Business success lies within the grasp of Chief Darlene Bernard who has history and antiquity on her side. The fisheries in these waters thrived before Europeans arrived in North America, when ancestors of today's Mi'kmaq people came in ocean-going canoes to harvest shellfish and lobster from the shallow bays and harbours of Prince Edward Island. Two decades ago this ancient practice was revived by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court ruled that aboriginal people enjoyed treaty rights giving them access to the resources of Canada to earn "a modest living". Aboriginal nations began entering the lobster fishery along Canada's Atlantic Ocean coastline, fishing the lobster grounds alongside non-aboriginal boats; selling their catch to processing plants scattered across Prince Edward Island.

A number of licences were awarded to the Lennox Island First Nation. Boats owned by the band, as well as independently owned vessels, became participants in the fishery. And then, one morning in early August, 2009, two people met to discuss the idea of setting up and operating a lobster processing plant on lands owned by the Lennox Island First Nation. Chief Darlene Bernard was interested in the potential of a for-profit processing industry located on Lennox Island to provide employment for her people, and earn money for additional economic development to their benefit. Chief Bernard harboured a dream of creating greater economic self sufficiency for her people as a way to breaking the cycle of dependency under the Indian Act, which held them back.
Jon Osmann Aranson was native to Iceland, that Norse island in the North Atlantic where fishing is in the genes of every inhabitant. From his teen years he worked in the commercial fishing industry, a career that took him to Russia, China and Japan before he fetched up managing the processing plant in Prince Edward Island. Aranson had a dream to create a processing plant from scratch; to put his international experience to work designing, equipping and operating a processing plant to exacting specifications that would meet and exceed international standards.

\The dreams of these two from dissimilar backgrounds came together in a single unified purpose. The dreamers had nine months to make it reality - including several in the dead of winter when snow-laden north winds blow fierce over Prince Edward Island. There was a critical challenge to be met - financing. A key decision was made to seek financing from private sources. Minigoo Fisheries was to be a profit-making enterprise - not another government make-work program. A business plan was prepared. The Bank of Montreal came aboard. The project was a "go". Work began in early December 2009 to convert and expand an existing building on Lennox Island into a world-class processing facility.
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Aranson led a core staff and a group of local contractors through twelve hour days, six and seven days a week in the race to complete the task of being fully operational when the lobster fishing season opened on May 1, 2010. On April 21, hundreds of visitors from Lennox Island and surrounding communities celebrated the Official Opening of Minigoo Fisheries with ceremonies that included aboriginal drumming and singing, and a cutting of a ribbon by Grand Chief Shawn Atleo of the National Assembly of First Nations.

"I think I have been preparing myself for a moment like this,” said Aranson. “It is not often you are given the opportunity to design a seafood processing plant where you can put in place all of the techniques you learn over the number of years in different situations. I am a happy man". On May 1, 2010, Minigoo Fisheries processed its first lobster for the international marketplace. His was a short-lived bliss.

Minigoo Fisheries went into bankruptcy almost immediately after the grand opening in 2010.  First came announcement of the surprise departure of Aranson, Icelandic national who had arrived in Lennox Island First Nation an avid proponent of reconstruction of a dilapidated fisheries plant. What ensued was a shocking and somewhat expensive lesson in management.

Compounding the problem was a valuable catch that spoiled and contract and supply creditors fell on the hook when everything ground to a halt. It took two years to sort out the details and re-open the facility, proving Chief Bernard remains steadfast in her goal toward capacity-building the Lennox Island First Nation.

Success breeding success by building on existing strengths

George Morrison beside Burrard Inlet

George Morrison, 44, is an urbanite from Vancouver with family roots and Status membership in Namgis Nation. The Namgis (‘numb geese’)  homeland has traditional territory in the surroundings of North Vancouver Island and islands of the Broughton Archipelago. Morrison is a business person whose career has ranged far and wide in the First Nations economy. The process of being a business person in the world of First Nations is something of an exploration to everyone.
 

“I think the First Peoples Group of Companies is an amazing model for Aboriginal business,” says Morrison, of the brainchild he works with as an entrepreneur. “I did a $15,000 feasibility study that looked at things including the name. I picked ‘First People’ over First Nation because the term First Nation has become too politicized and even contains the ‘hand-out’ mentality,” that prevails with people living under the Indian Act, says Morrison. Meanwhile, the term First People had overwhelming positives in the recognition factors found in the study, a fresh look.

For over a decade Morrison operated Morgroup Management where they specialized in Co-Management as well as Third Party Management with financially distressed First Nation communities. “The Indian Act creates policy and a system to break out of,” says Morrison, candidly. “When I was working in third party management, I was, as far as INAC is concerned, nothing but a glorified accounts payable clerk. We evolved First People GOC by learning how to break out of the core-funding cycle,,” a valuable lesson.
 

“I was ten years ahead of my time when INAC core-funding was sparse,” as always, “and I started a company called Canadian Native Lumber to access First Nation fibre. I ended up working with First Nations using a model that permits the community to maintain independence. The Indian Act stops progress. Elections intervene in communities. The whole environment is unstable on, among other things, the economy.”

Morrison took to setting up development corporations and incorporating business success from role models like the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) and the immense developments surrounding Chief Clarence Louie in Osoyoos. He spent a number of years in consultation working with Tahltan, “TNDC could end up with possibly 50 Partnerships.”

He says, “I am building a blueprint for First Nation economic development that leads to independence,” in mind, spirit, and prosperity. “We will build long-lasting careers that give back and inspire others, scholarships, bursaries, funding for elders, community activities, and sports. We have looked at the organizational abilities of other communities like the Korean, Vietnamese, and East Indians who work together.”

Morrison sees urban opportunity gone to waste with skid row property long the close street-level purview of First Nation people in Canada, properties falling to the possession of savvy developers from the mainstream economy, and no First Nation investment or equity to really speak of. He sees a future when First Nations claw back millions of dollars being squandered under false pretences and put those funds into projects that create real jobs.

“When I go to a First Nation community and see people standing around, it makes me very excited,” says Dean Iverson, co-founder of First peoples Group of Companies, “and I am smiling because I am seeing a huge potential in human resources, social capital builders, men and women who are available to build the economic development capacity of First Nation communities.” There is a growing number of people outside these communities who see it the same way as Iverson, and in this way the world is changing fast.

He decided to make economic development of First Nations the highest priority Iverson has in doing business. He gained knowledge in the forestry industry, and his company, Iverson Forest Management, is engaged in all kinds of forestry operations in the province of B.C. with First Nations forestry licensees.

First Peoples Group of Companies has a number of divisions, economic development orientations toward forestry, environment, construction, natural resources, architecture and engineering, venture development, and a management division to take a wide view of the interests in First Nations communities. “These are places needing strategic support and professional development,” he says. “We work with First Nation members who want to build economy and capacity.”

First Peoples Group of Companies is the outcome of dealing with long-term strategic development issues in communities in forestry, and Iverson recognized a First Nations economy was progressing in a diversity of sectors. More opportunities show up in First Nations every day, “In a really good way,” says he, “these communities are making interesting gains and good things are coming up for them. For me it’s about hearing ideas, sharing their visions, and it is about listening.”

 Putting together a group specializing in First Nation economic development has been quite an effort, “We are excited about what we are doing and where we are going. First Nations are learning they have more capacity than previously understood. It's growing from a desire to live free of the systems that prevail. The Indian Act is what keeps First Nations from real progress. First Nation membership want to work! They just need the opportunity. First Peoples Group of Companies wants to make those opportunities a reality through job creation and training.”

Iverson says, “First Peoples Group of Companies contains a diverse number of development portfolios and each division recognizes First Nations are required to build an economy of their own that fits within the larger Canadian (and world) economy. Our management group recognizes this reality.”

The group is designed to work from a First Nation perspective, take that sense of direction and put business plans to it, “which could be anything. The management group will look at what is available for economic development and train people to seize the opportunity. Our goal is to walk away leaving the development running with it’s rightful owners.”

The message from listening over the years has been that First Nations want to bring home their membership and to do this they need infrastructure and management to make home a place of prosperity and opportunity. First Nations exist amongst a growing wealth of opportunities in natural resources and have an abundance of human resources to employ, and First Peoples Group of Companies is designed to work with the development corporation model or the independent operator in a community.

They take development envelopes that are dormant, empty, and fill them with the cash that comes from professionally managed opportunity. “So many Bands are resource rich and cash poor, so we answer the question of how to change this. We build on strengths, put people in situations where unique skills add new capacity to the community. We build on what they want to do, and take it through feasibility study, schooling, training, financial management, or construction. We are starting with business plans and collaborating until they have an operational office or turn-key enterprise.”

First Peoples Group of Companies has a role in liaison with industries that are making commitments to First Nations in skill development or joint venture economic development. Practically every sector of the economy contains skilled labour deficits. Looming labour crises confront mining, forestry, construction trades, and transportation industries. Professional development is needed for First Nations across the board as they take ownership of large assets like hydro development, commercial fisheries, and forestry licenses.

“First Nations have it, they have everything, and they need to work together to make opportunities happen. They must change the situation from what has been there in the past. They have a desire to go forward but do so without the wherewithal. They need to break out of routine and get past bad experiences. Bands with business failures in their history have to pick it up in the present. It’s time to end the sleight-of- hand that outsiders inflict on unsuspecting First Nations.”

Starting from a position of even a single strength, First Peoples Group of Companies will bring in other components to ensure success. Expanding opportunities will be seized by managers who have established relationships of trust in the business world, and when they know they can turn to a trusted management source. Transparency in dealings with First Peoples Group of Companies will spread to every business relationship in the future. Success will breed success. 

GIS an essential service in land and asset management

"There is a higher demand in the spring-time for the Geographic Information System (GIS) training in northwest Ontario," says Jordan Shana, owner, Northern GIS, in Thunder Bay, Ontario. "We are busy delivering courses two per month from January to April each year." Training continues throughout the year, however, and Northern GIS works extensively in other GIS projects throughout the year. "We get calls to do specific GIS training in communities at any time during the year. We run 15 to 20 courses per year and these run with a maximum 10 people per course, or a minimum three or four students," in Northern Ontario, often using the lab facilities of the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre in Thunder Bay.

"I taught forestry-oriented GIS at college, but GIS finds application in a vast number of areas in the economy," says Jordan, and governments at all levels want the precise data provided by the application of GIS technology, First Nations included. "It is huge, and growing quickly, but it exploded in north western Ontario when the demand grew to make data on resources available." In a sense, he says, GIS is integral to government structure. "One thing that makes it powerful is the way it incorporates data into software for wider applications. GIS is used to determine large corporate moves in the economy now. Communities manage infrastructure using GIS data, and day-to-day facts keep the picture up to date. We are seeing unlimited usage if you look at uses of GIS on a google search engine."

Shana explains that GIS is a tool to be used to document and combine useful information so that it can be digitized, mapped and displayed for legal purposes. "GIS and Traditional Knowledge can be helpful to First Nation communities in asserting their ownership and obtaining control of their lands and natural resources." Northern GIS is an innovative company that provides a full range of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services and training. "We are based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario and understand the complex and diverse issues that northern communities face. We work with clients by addressing their needs and helping to resolve these needs by providing efficient and effective solutions using the power of GIS technology."

The uses for Geographic Information System (GIS) are unlimited. GIS enables better planning and management of the information around you; and it simplifies decision making by providing quick and accurate information that can be used in economic development, capacity building, planning and maintenance. "GIS and traditional knowledge data collection can be helpful to First Nation communities in asserting their ownership and obtaining control of their lands and natural resources.

"We offer GIS, GPS and Traditional Knowledge data collection training however you would like it delivered.  We customize each course to provide real world training. We also assist with land claim and flood claim projects, community database creation, mapping of all kinds and provide you with secure data storage.  We work with you every step of the way to ensure that all of your needs are met. We are very understanding of cultural sensitivity and awareness and we are respectful of  any information that is given to us."

 They work with  clients to develop and deliver the type of training that they need the way they need it.  He says, "We offer group training courses or one-on-one customized training in your home community or in Thunder Bay.  Our courses include: Computer Basics, Introduction to GPS and Data Collection, Introduction to GIS, Collecting Traditional Knowledge Values, and Advanced GIS. Our technical expertise is complemented by our cultural sensitivity and our commitment to ensuring that all of our clients have their training needs met and even exceeded." And he adds, "Talk to us about your needs and we’ll design a course that works for you."

Information management goes with self-government in First Nations, including managing infrastructure. Good examples of First Nation operations that deploy GIS management technology are the Musqueum, and Sto:lo Tribal members are using GIS, as well as, Nisga'a and Nuu Chah Nulth treaty tables and infrastructure managers. "I do understand the topic," says Richard Johnson, " and the issue has been around for a long time. I know a lot of different Bands use it, and large First Nation organizations have hired in GIS managers."

Operating GIS systems and using the data to the best advantage, "requires a concerted education that is coordinated with standardized softwares," says Johnson, "which (coordination) would help in cooperation and better utilization of master manipulated data models. The capital investment and learning is in the software. The applications are as diverse as infrastructure management and land management," (and he notes that GIS has long being used to one extent or another in applications in GPS). "No doubt it is used in forestry and other resource extractions, including commercial fishing and integrated resource management."

Johnson says, "Operation of GIS is not an onerous learning curve now with standardized systems, which are put in place before operators are running the system, which isn't that difficult. Cansel can help in the design and implementing and training on GIS array that would be useful in any conceivable management scenario. Survey, designing, construction, and maintenance, the data pouring into the system makes GIS is the single source of truth, even while the usual business processes continue." Cansel is situated with offices across the country, including mobile training labs at offices in Burnaby, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg, and Cansel outlets are Autodesk resellers and Esri GIS systems resellers. richard.johnson@cansel.ca

Innergex investing in all kinds of renewable energy

Richard Blanchet is the senior vice president for the western region at Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. and In recent history Innergex made a major acquisition of Cloudworks Energy in British Columbia, “We’ve been expanding the past 11 years, especially in British Columbia, and today 49 percent of revenues for Innergex are coming from B.C..” Innergex is generating power from projects spread over three provinces. and each jurisdiction has a concentration on First Nation economic development as the “core part of our development.”

In B.C., Innergex is operating 9 run-of-river renewable energy projects and presently engaged in the construction of two new projects “pipeline development of, and two projects in run of river renewable energy for 178 MWh. “We are very busy and these two new run-of-river projects together represent $270 million investment in BC,” said Blanchet. The really important statistic is the employment situation with First Nations. First Nations occupying well over 40 percent of the jobs in the largest construction project. company. “We are deeply engaged in First Nations training and capacity building and the fact is we have second and third generations of First Nations in our projects. These folks are advanced and moving up the ladder into skilled jobs, providing mentorship, building the social licensing (or social capital) of their communities.”

Innergex takes pride in their long record of successful First Nation partnerships, “and we look at the long term plans for First Nations in these partnerships toward sustainable development of energy projects and what the projects mean in these communities.” Communities are transforming in very positive directions like the Douglas First Nation who took on a hydro project with Cloudworks at the beginning of the last decade. “These projects are building the business activities in local communities through sub-contracting and business building. A good example is the Umbata Falls hydro project in Ontario with Pic River Ojibway, 51 percent owned by the First Nation and opened for power generation in 2009,” says Blanchet. “Here we are starting to see the benefits to these communities.”

Founded in 1990, Innergex formed in anticipation of a call for independent power production by Quebec Hydro. “The first call for private power production in Quebec came in 1991,” and Innergex was successful and expanded to Ontario, then B.C., then the USA in early 2000. “We have an office in B.C. with 30 staff, nine projects in operation in B.C.. In Ontario we have three four operational projects and in the USA one.” In Quebec they run seven hydro projects and five wind farms.

Blanchet says, “The First Nation aspect has been a key success in our development. It was during the first few projects in Quebec that this came to be at the centre of Innergex core values. We asked ourselves, what is in it for the First Nations? These communities will see the impact in construction and will see change occur in their communities and these communities must have something in return.”

In B.C. presently, the Kwoiek Creek Hydro Project is under construction near Lytton in the Fraser Canyon, “an area that has been bereft of opportunity with downturns in forestry, but now we have a $180 million investment underway with 90 plus jobs.” There are new skilled workers, and money is being spent with on-site training that will be opening the doors to employment on other projects. Blanchet notes, “And that's the thing about these projects, they are capital intensive.  It's a huge commitment in up-front costs while operational costs are low and renewable energy flows for decades. Water rentals are becoming an ongoing expense paid to the province and apparently the province of B.C. has started arranged to share an important part the water rental revenues they receive from us revenue-sharing with the First Nations in the province to share an important part something like 70 percent of provincial water rentals.”

The future of Innergex is based on building partnerships based on core values of integrity, responsibility, transparency, teamwork, and resource-sharing. “Most projects involve First Nation in the review process, and we provide capacity for land use studies and other background proceedings. These projects are long term and we obtain financing from investors like pension funds. These investors like the stability of renewable energy.” 

Innergex did a solar project recently in Ontario, “33 MWh came into operation in Ontario, and that's a new one. We arrayed the solar panels on 300 acres of non-arable land.” Blanchet came to the west coast to work in Vancouver eight years ago, “I commuted from Quebec for the first two years,” he laughs.

“Things are advancing very well in the Fraser Canyon. We built a tram to transport building materials, and the neat aspect of the tram is the way it travels from reserve to reserve at Kanaka Band.” This tram may have a future since they had been losing access to their side of the river, it’s a long drive and under certain conditions it is a long with very bad driving conditions. Presently they are pouring concrete at power house (on-reserve), and at site the construction of penstock underway, with the transmission line under construction. Innergex expects Kwoiek to be generating electricity beginning in October 2013. 

Building awareness of Manitoba forestry resources and management techniques

The team at Manitoba Forestry Association is working with Patricia Pohrebniuk, Executive Director, to expand knowledge, awareness, and ensure sustainability of forests in Manitoba, which is no small undertaking in a province rich in boreal forests. The programs they deliver across the province bring new awareness to diverse groups in the general public and corporate world of Manitoba forestry and resources.

First Nation members belong to the organization and work on various committees, and the MFA works across the province in collaboration with teachers and schools. “We are a non-profit charitable organization,” explains Pohrebniuk, “working with schools, private landowners, and First Nations with programs designed for each meeting,” and on-going public awareness programming at forest centres in the province that are open from May to end of August each year.

MFA runs their education programs to students K to 12 in classrooms, and the woodlot owners access technical services related to managing forests or attend skill-oriented workshops. Tree-planting, pruning, safe chainsaw use, and other courses are delivered by MFA. “The organization began in 1919,” explains Pohrebniuk. “We began delivering workshops and training sessions in 1992.”

Programming is diverse because landowners have a wide range of goals in forestry, she explains, “everything from recreational use to harvesting timber, to reforestation, and construction of shelter belts, or wildlife enhancement. Other forestry initiatives are in biofuel management, planting willow and hybrid poplar in various places around Manitoba,” part of the Trees for Tomorrow Program from the Federal government in Saskatchewan and Alberta as well.

Each year over 500 students and citizens of the province receive the benefit of some awareness raising or knowledge distribution by MFA through public extension activities. It may regard a disease like Dutch Elm that is hitting the trees of Winnipeg hard, or the spruce bud worm that is hitting pockets of the provincial forest resources, or warnings of other invasive species threatening arrival over the horizon.

 “We have a working relationship with a number of government departments and agencies,” says Pohrebniuk, “and we work with Manitoba Environmental Fund to participate on numerous initiatives in the provincial forests, and on the provincial logistics committee in forestry.” MFA has a five member staff working out of Winnipeg. Swan River Valley has an outreach program of MFA to deliver woodlot workshops.

MFA employs seasonal staff as well, at programming delivered in Sandilands Forest Discovery Centre, the main centre, located near Hadashville; Duck Mountain Forest Centre – Located in the Duck Mountain Provincial Forest south of Minitonas; Interlake Forest Centre – Located between Fisher Branch and Hodgson; Atikameg Forest Centre – Located in The Pas.
     “The Sandilands centre has been open 55 years in 2012,” she says, this year running a Fire-Smart Pilot program to train people on forest fire prevention. The annual Day in the Pines event is taking place in May 11 and 12.

This time of year the in-school programming is underway and forestry is a topic in classrooms especially in Winnipeg with MFA curriculum and supplies. Classes typically feature 45 minute presentations on forestry topics, and as the grades go higher the concentration of information evolves to include career mapping. School program is constantly in redevelopment. Provincial funding delivers the MFA education stream, and the urban lesson plans may be expanding to other school districts in coming years, depending on budgets. 

Diversity in operations around forestry in Meadow Lake Tribal Council territory

"We are a very diverse operation in North West Saskatchewan, owned by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, which owns NorSask and nine other subsidiary companies," explains Trevor Reid, President, NorSask, "100 percent owned by MLTC since1998 after buying in as a shareholder in 1988, and it's been fantastic. We run a stud lumber sawmill with production capacity to 140 million board feet per year, and, at capacity there are 120 people employed full time twelve months a year. We will be starting a second shift as the economy recovers from the world debt crisis and housing meltdown in the USA."

Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan is the site of all this activity. And the story gets even more interesting with the news of MLTC in the process of building a power plant on-site to produce 36 MWh in a bio-mass powerplant fueled by the sawmill residue," a hog fuel plant using the wood waste that was, "historically burned off in a beehive burner. That is opening soon, we are in the final stages of planning to build this $150 million power plant, turning the ground next spring in Meadow Lake, and by 2014 we will be selling all the energy to SaskPower, from the Meadow Lake Bio Energy Centre," a 'working title' for the power company)."

Prior to the power plant project coming to the fore, "We are getting into wood pellet manufacture for the specific purpose of providing district heating solutions for remote First Nations communities, in essence becoming a utility for First Nations. We have four pilot projects under way, one for example in Canoe Lake First Nation with a district heating system applied to four houses. At Island Lake First Nation,the school was retrofitted with pellet heat. We have a demonstration project under way in Saskatoon and another in Meadow Lake. The demonstration projects are recent and have been under way since October 2011," installed and running all winter. "We want to help communities grow out from their dependence on propane, and provide (carbon neutral) energy services to remote communities."

"We have a trucking company MLTC Northern Trucking to do trucking of logs and chemical peroxide into mill, and haul chips out. We are expanding that company to grow the log haul division. We have a bulk fuel company called Polar Oils, 100 % MLTC owned, operating in North West Saskatchewan and providing First Nation community gas stations with petroleum, delivering 4 million litres a year."

MLTC’s Economic Development group runs with a 10-member core team, and lots of people on the ground. The forestry development occurs in a provincial Forest Management Area in MLTC traditional territory. The mill in Meadow Lake has been debt free since 2002. The company has paid dividends in housing and community infrastructure and other investments. The forests are in great shape. "We have no challenges from MPB like they have in B.C." though it may be coming, he says, "We have jack pine and white spruce. We've got a forestry management group and the forestry management involves a lot of consulting with Band members, such as trap-line operators.

Pacific Northwest economy developing many new directions

The Pacific Northwest of Canada is an area with a stake in the economy held by First Nations, so it’s a far cry from the economic marginalization of communities in northern Ontario and northern Manitoba. It may closer resemble developments ascribed to James Bay on the Quebec side. Business development in the Northwest Pacific runs the gamut from coastal marine-oriented enterprise in emerging industrial and infrastructure operations, to small businesses creating dozens of forestry jobs, to long-standing companies hiring out of local indigenous populations that have recovered a lot of rights and titles in the territory.

Port services are expanding in the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., by a tripartite business venture with Island Tug and Barge, Metlakatla, and Lax Kw’alaams First Nations. Ryan Leighton, Director of Operations for the Metlakatla Development Corporation (MDC) stated, “There is a multitude of different opportunities we are looking at a variety of commercial activities.” John Lindsay,  ITB vice president and general manager, recently confirms the company is proceeding to establish infrastructure and move equipment to Prince Rupert.

Leighton says, “We are involved regionally and going to grow. Barge services up here provide essential fuel, materials, supplies, everything right down to garbage remediation, and our services will extend as far North as Alaska.” Lindsay says, “It is a fully equipped marine services company in a hot area of economic development.” He noted last year that the Port of Prince Rupert is undergoing all kinds of expansion to meet the shipping demands of commodity sectors like coal, potash, and other export minerals. 

Clayton Burger is a Northwest Pacific businessman and highly experienced tree faller from Iskut, B.C., who took skills with a chain saw around the province. After 20 years as a faller, “I worked for a short time as a foreman for logging outfit, which proved to be excellent preparation to start my own business.” His company, Edziza Contracting is entering the third year operating out of Terrace, B.C..

Edziza teams of fallers work as far as Columbia Valley on a transmission line job. They work falling contracts in Alberta, and Dawson Creek, B.C., and currently, “Right where we are on the Northern Transmission Line project north of Terrace.” For his crews, falling and slashing is the game, “Line cutting, right-of-way, seismic,  oilfield line, pipeline, routes cut to make trails for industry, or government contracts.” 

On the NTL side, “We started the project last fall with All-North Consulting, and we’ve been working with McElhanney ever since on the survey job at NTL.” He worked in Nisga’a Nation to run a training course on chain-saw experienced people with no tickets. “We get them out and prepare them, then they can pass the tests to be certified fallers in the region.”

Bear Creek Contracting works in the Pacific Northwest, with a head office in Terrace, B.C.. Mike Edwards, Health and Safety Manager, has a host of responsibilities in human resources, and says, “Bear Creek Contracting is a family-run business, originally in logging and now engaged in all kinds of construction. “We specialize in ‘early works’ and ground works on utility projects, road construction, and other infrastructure. We have 150 on the payroll right now.” Furthermore, “We are operating a limited partnership with Haisla First Nation where we hire lots of people and do training and certification for a lot of new personnel being recruited in Kitimat area.”

HBO/Bear Creek Contracting limited partnership is run by Clarence Nice in Kitimaat Village. Edwards says, “This partnership opened a lot of doors for us, and we found great workers and great people by establishing the partnership. We had important conversations about building our workforce.  We now have a new pool of people trained and employed as excavator and machine operators, truck drivers, labourers, and other jobs in road construction on projects like Kitimat LNG,” the infrastructure project to ship natural gas from Canada.

The largest forestry tender holder in Haida Gwaii is looking to sell a particular form of log suitable for the B.C. power transmission system. The Skidegate Band Council of the Haida Nation (Queen Charlotte Islands) has put together an proposal to develop forestry resources under their aegis in the Haida Gwaii.  Chief Bob Mills, head of the Skidegate Band Council, explains, "We're working on leading projects based in ownership of the largest forestry tenure on Haida Gwaii. They are Skidegate Band initiatives to put some of our people in skilled positions at work that comes out of our forests, and for the Band to make some money."

The priority is training crews to work at log prepping sites using newly acquired  equipment to strip poles and prepare logs for the power pole market in B.C.. It involves the preparation of cedar poles by machine peeling the bark and putting the logs to market to corporations like BC Hydro and Fortis. “We understand there is a big demand for this and we can make money. We believe the Haida brand should be appealing." The poles will be shipped by barge to Vancouver.

The chief says, "De-barking occurs using expensive machinery that we are buying in the USA. Council member Billy Obonovich is spearheading the project. He obtained the debarking machine from a company in the USA. Training from NWCC comes with classroom and hands-on learning, time indoors followed by outdoor training toward certification in chain saw safety and machine operations. Timing of the training is arranged to precede the machine setup. There is a representative from the machine company to do operational training of the crew."

Delorme building on a legacy of economic development

James Delorme was elected chief this summer 2011 in a by-election at Klahoose First Nation, "I grew up on the west coast. I was an army brat and my dad was stationed in the Comox Valley." Delorme is in truth all-Canadian, "I was born in Nova Scotia where my dad was stationed, and we came west when I was age two." He schooled in Comox and made a career of working up and down the coast in logging and construction. "I went into shake block cutting and a friend of mine from Klahoose, the late Dave Noble, went to Surrey to work in a mill. I followed him and put my first aid ticket to work as an afternoon shift supervisor. Noble was on a housing list to return to his home village, at Squirrel Cove, Klahoose, four years waiting before he got there."

Delorme worked at the wood processing facility in the Lower Mainland and when Noble returned to Squirrel Cove, He was invited to the Klahoose reserve where he entered employment with Klahoose administration. "It seemed like a great place to live where I could be close to my roots in the Comox Valley." Eventually, "I transferred my Status from the Saskatchewan-situated Cowesses Band. My dad is a Cowesses member. We are Cree people." Delorme says, with a laugh, "That makes me the first Cree chief in Klahoose." (Klahoose is related to the K'Moks people of the Coast Salish Nation.)

Delorme says, "I transferred my Indian Status to the Klahoose Band about a year ago. I love it around Klahoose. Over the years I picked up some language, worked in administration, learned much about the culture, and my three kids are Band members. I made the decision to transfer and the Band accepted me."

Today he serves with three council members  Jessie Louie, Mavis Kok, and Cathy Francis, who were elected last year with former Chief Ken Brown. "I spend about four days a week in Squirrel Cove, and I rent on Cortes Island because housing on the reserve is at a standstill, so I rent a property off-reserve. This encourages me to get housing issues up to snuff."

The problem for Klahoose housing centres on an aging sewer system. "The feds are talking about upgrading the system so we can expand housing, and that is a primary goal for the community. We have a decent amount of reserve property but we need better infrastructure. "We aren't interested in re-inventing the wheel. We will learn from some of our neighbours," like Homalco First Nation. "This will open up improvements in our relations with our neighbours."

 When Chief Brown resigned this year, "I contemplated running for chief. I respected Ken's achievements. He was a good delegater and visionary in the direction the Band should take. No chief made such dramatic changes to our financial standing, and much of the success came from establishing Qathen Xwegus Managment Corporation. It's been in place about three years and was one of Ken's labours. Without his effort we may still be in a place without direction  and missing the ability to make firm economic decisions. This climate of economic development was opened to us."

Now Chief James Delorme has the opportunity to build for the future. "Ken had the ability to build his vision by delegating. But people sometimes forget that he was a big helper of the members. His ability to establish relations with government and industry weren't his only strengths. He was a generous man to the people and they remember that."

Delorme, who turned 40 in October, was elected into an organization that contains inherent strengths built by the previous leader, "Most of the team stayed intact. The economic development corporation was set up with a board of directors, and a logging program was established for Tree Farm License 10, and government relations were arranged. What has happened is the formula is intact and there's no point in reinventing the wheel. We were doing positive development under Ken and we have no reason to upset the apple cart."

There are changes, however, to band administration and tightening some gaps. "We are looking for positive ways to help the community, including expansion of health and education, employment. Huge gaps appeared when the economy dropped but we still have a strong economic base and forestry opportunities. We are recovering, and realize that we need to be taking care of each other, building social programs that government at both levels, federal and provincial, may be reducing over time."

The Band has work to do in treaty. "We believe in the treaty process and continue to work on it, but we require social support for members and this is the key element to my goals. We need to build longevity into social programs for Band members." Klahoose is not a large Band, "We total 317 members," he explains , "We have eleven reserves, two of which are inhabited. Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island is the traditional winter grounds. Toba Inlet, less inhabited, has been occupied related to forestry work iand run of river projects. We run Qathen Xwegus Managment Corporation and social programs from offices in Powell River. We have a majority of our membership spread around in B.C. and the USA."

He says, "Basically we have health, education, and other services targeted by the federal government for members on-reserve, yet the majority live off reserve, and we have concerns about how they get help with training, employment, health services, and social programs. Much of our membership has to go to the provincial government for extended health benefits and services. We have relations in USA with no extended health benefits," especially in Washington State."

Delorme says, "We need to create our own extended health benefits. It's going to take work, time, and energy. It's a big undertaking working with government and agencies to achieve these goals. Klahoose has a great relationship with School District 47 in Powell River, using various means of providing training and obtaining federal dollars to do this. Benefits come to the Band from this relationship with the school district, and some of these benefits spill over to our neighbours in Sliammmon and Homalco. We are working on a plan for post secondary education and small trades training in welding, core construction, and culinary arts."

Other news is the possible second phase of Run of River projects in Toba Inlet with Altira Power, who bought Plutonic Power, proposing a second phase of Toba Inlet run of river to proceed. “We are working on that now. We are hoping to have things firmed up in the new year. It was on the table prior to my being chief and a negotiation team is being assembled for talks in the coming year involving another Impact Benefit Agreement like the last one with Plutonic,” including royalties plus infrastructure, jobs and roads and services in these projects, which opens up Toba Inlet to more opportunities.

Another highlight in the community is the sawmill program started last year. "We had a sawmill operator come in and mill wood for smaller projects as well as the new administration building. We intend to buy our own sawmill and get School District 47 to train people to mill lumber. We will receive the timber from Toba Inlet forestry. We will train members, and market lumber with quality wood from the Community Forest in our IR NUMBER 1 property."

He says, "There are many things started by Ken and today we are stronger and more educated, but we need outside people who will fight on our behalf. My election is part of the change that is underway. I was elected by a younger crowd and had a lot of input, and I won by a significant margin in that by-election. I have 1.5 years left to go and I will do the best I can to continue Ken's legacy." jamesdelorme@klahoose.org  Administration office   250 935 6536  Ex 236

Sustainable forestry departments in Fraser Valley First Nations

Photo credit: Jason Kemmler

Chief Clem Seymour’s Band, the Seabird Island First Nation in the Sto:lo Nation, has established a sustainable forestry department, “We have long term goals and forestry operations are making the Band money, and providing valuable jobs with long-term careers.” Tamihi Logging Ltd. has become a significant business operation that works in the Chilliwack-area forests on behalf of Seabird Island First Nation.

“It’s forestry operations in some deep valleys,” says Chief Seymour, “and we work wherever we have to in harvesting fir and cedar from second and third growth forests.” Fifteen to twenty employees are working in crews under Tamihi’s Gary Peters, falling trees and loading timber at the dump-sites. “We are managing these tenures in our fourth year, working in a partnership through Tamihi Logging and Dorman Lumber on the specialized form of logging that we do.”

The employment is going to Seabird Island members and other First Nation forestry personnel from around the Lower Mainland. Head office for Tamihi Logging Ltd. is about 20 kilometres outside Chilliwack, at Agassiz, B.C..

This arrangement is another example of First Nations finding innovative ways to work in the forests of traditional territories. Dorman Timber Limited and their subsidiaries, Tamahi Logging, and Fred Morris and Son Selective Logging are specialized in coastal forestry operations. "We have been working in the Fraser Valley with Seabird Island First Nation on their Forest Range Agreement," Brian Dorman explained last year, “including a 100,000 Cubic Metre (CM) annual allowable cut.”

Dorman also works with Scowlitz First Nation on a FRA of 32,000 CM per year. They work on Vancouver Island where they own and operate a couple of area-based timber licenses adding up to 400,000 CM. They cut contract logs for a couple of different forestry outfits including Timberwest, Island Timberlands, Western Forest Products, and First Nations in Sooke, Port McNeill, and elsewhere.

Dorman Timber has obviously established strong working relationships with First Nation foresters in the Fraser Valley and in coastal, island, and archipelago forests, and the company continues to build relationships that will see the forestry industry of B.C. evolve with a new set of important players.

Matt Wealick, RPF, of Ch-ihl-kway-uhk Forestry, says, “A lot of preliminary work went into the recent logging with Alternative Forest Operations to make sure the value of the end product was going to make the bottom-line work . We paid for the more expensive single-stem logging operation.” The cedar was picked up by Helifor and delivered to the buyer, Gorman Brothers, “They bought  and marked poles on site,” said  Wealick.

“This was our first attempt at logging for a particular market in telephone poles. The market happened to allow for this type of operation   Poles were worth quite a bit more money. We plan cutblocks with all the options on the table and we go with best option. We own and manage the Tree Farm License and actively coordinate projects for the logging contractors, engineers, buyers, and operations conducted by AFO and Helifor.”

Ch-ihl-kway-uhk Forestry operates from Chilliwack, B.C., and hired Alternative Forest Operations for a project that took two months to harvest  timber this summer, and a month prior to set up the job. The contract with Ch-ihl-kway-uhk Forestry ensued from AFO’s commitment to alternative harvesting and  forestry practices, as Jason Kemmler explains, “The thing is, we have no real piece of technology that sets us apart.  It’s men, the training and care we put into work. It’s thinking outside the box.”
 

The job in the Lower Mainland involved up to 10 men, “The job was specifically designed to harvest cedar poles. Engineers go in and individually pick the trees that have the characteristics to make  telephone poles. These are straight, and uniform in length and size. We limb, top and jig the tree so there is no damage. The tree gets delivered to the drop pocket without touching the ground.”

This type of harvesting leaves no room for damage. “There’s a great market for these trees, a strong market for a limited resource. The biggest difference is we don’t fall the pole so there’s no potential for hidden breakage. It’s more time-consuming and costly. Single-stem harvesting makes the opportunity of harvesting cedar poles or other niche markets one tree at a time.”

Personnel are trained in identifying poles. Engineers mark the pole, the climber climbs.  The jigger jigs the tree, once the helicopter logs the stem a ground crew walks to the stump to confirm the single stem has been removed. The size of job that warrants something like this usually ranges from  300 to 3,000 trees.

“We create projects with our client,” says  Kemmler. “Our methods are more expensive and intense, involving a high level of professionalism/organization/ and communication. We are working with clients looking to maximize value and keep a sustainable forest. We do a few clear-cuts, where there is no retention, and steep drainage. Often we harvest without clear cuts, using no roads."
 

It’s investing, planning, communication and Integrity plus time taken to make a greater return for the clients. “Our operations require someone in the Timber-holder position to consider this. It's value-added forestry to sell logs into niche markets mixed with some conventional logging.”  Kemmler says, “We have few competitors. Our goal is to maximum value through recovery methods if the expense of additional harvesting methods warrant it.”

A timber sales company goes to log brokers to sell into the commodity market. “We are of the mind-frame that the commodity log market is part of it, but where there is the one red cedar that could be made into a totem pole, we want to find the niche markets to buy the log, to tap into the value-added side of forestry. Some trees double in value when the market is for transmission cedar poles.” It all depends on what the client has for trees to cut.

Kemmler says, "First Nations have a new resource in wood fibre baskets, but they may be missing important knowledge about how to manage it. It’s a matter of building trust. Without integrity nothing works. Being a part of the operation at Ch-ihl-kway-uhk Forestry involved Matt Wealick, RPF. He’s a young RPF who has other First Nations calling him for advice. We work along side him to manage a timber harvest that incorporates alternative methods."
 

AFO has a staff complement of 30 to  40 full time personnel, working 10-12 months of the year. “Mostly our operations are on the coast of BC, harvesting fir and cedar. In Bamfield AFO is working with the Huu-ay-aht first nations, we are harvesting Highly valued red cedar logs and cedar trees picked for telephone poles the value or price of lumber that these species produce help the client harvest less valuable species such as Hemlock or Balsam with the helicopter which would normally be felled and left on the hill. “Huu ay aht is harvesting a community forest.”
 

They are taking a percentage of all species on the hill, sustainably logging the profile. There’s big wood and steep ground. We’ve been in there for a couple weeks. We’ll be in there another few weeks. The work is the same situation where we had a client who wanted to harvest in their community forest,  the sales value of the wood had the profitability of the project to small to warrant the risk. After re looking at the job we were able to apply the Single Stem method and create a win for all parties.  Kemmler has been impressed the Huu ay aht operations, “They have a well-rounded organization with lots of Band members working in their operations.