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."