Fort Nelson First Nations work hard to stay engaged in a huge oil and gas play

Harvey Behn is the General Manager of Eh-Cho Dene Enterprises in Fort Nelson, B.C., a company and a community at the centre of a huge oil and gas region in full industrial bloom. It doesn’t get any more industrially active in oil and gas than it is right now in the surroundings of Fort Nelson, says Behn.

It is his ancestral home as much as his current home, whereas Behn is educated in oil and gas development with a Petroleum Engineering degree from University of Wyoming. “We are riding a tsunami of new development in the oil and gas industry around us, and we are surrounded by industry, government, and then there’s us, little Indians on the bottom trying to get up on the wave and ride it to survive.”

He stares at the spending program underway by oil and gas exploration companies (the number of which are too many to count, much less name) and he reflects upon the impact to the environment, the lifestyle of people in the area, and the ways to make opportunities a reality for his community.
 

As general manager of Eh-Cho Dene Enterprises construction company he employs up to 120 people during major construction projects. The company history dates back to the early 1980s, and in the past 20 years the Fort Nelson Dene people have established a lot of thriving businesses that operate in the town and region; many residents of the 500-person reserve either work for Dene-owned businesses or own one themselves. (Another 300 members buy or rent homes in Fort Nelson or area.)
 

The current pace of business activity is a little daunting even to a professional oil man with a long career like Behn. “Just one oil company, for example, has a $1.2 billion exploration budget to outlay in drilling and all the obligations.” Behn’s goal is to put Eh-Cho Dene trucks and equipment into a few of these expansive operations. Fort Nelson is their epicentre of activity, a place where Behn was born and raised. He also sits on a six-member council, while the Eh-Cho Dene company is a limited owned by the Band, and run by a six-member board of directors. 

Illustrative of how busy the activity is in Fort Nelson, says Behn, “This year there was no spring break or slow-down in exploration activity. It was non-stop this year and we expect it to be running flat-out again this coming 2011.” This is good news for the 85 percent First Nation employees under his management. It makes for a thriving reserve adjacent Fort Nelson.

Restoration and revitalization by Gwawaenuk, Watson Island, B.C.

Chief Charlie Williams is working on an extensive program of revitalization and has the village site of Hopetown, B.C., on Watson Island, coming back to life, “We began August 20, 2010, with a team of archaeologists and experienced assistants, with the main purpose of starting to dig in sensitive areas containing human remains, then remediation of sites containing fuel tanks,” says Chief Williams.

It’s a large team of archaeologists and labourers working under Hartley Odwak’s Sources Archaeological & Heritage Consultants, and the project got legs once the remediation of decrepit fuel storage facilities was approved by INAC. The ultimate purpose is to revitalize a community that was in a moribund state of existence. The Hopetown project has a planner in Cari St. Pierre who has a close association with the Gwawaenuk of Hopetown since 2004.

The chief says, “The project came about after two years of community meetings long before the men and equipment began to assemble, and we had the usual minor glitches to deal with. There was a muddle of things including a decrepit electrical generation system, a lot of 45 gallon fuel drums, and a major clean-up of the village site.” Essentially the Gwawaenuk people of Hopetown are dealing with a six-acre village site on Indian Reserve property that was their home due east of Port Hardy since time immemorial. 

The project is  assisted on the environmental responsibilities by HAZCO Environmental and that company hired nine people from the First Nations to assist in remediation of a 4,000 year old site of human habitation, and First Nations are on hand to supply first aid personnel. The process is geared toward completion by October 31, 2010.
 

"Then we move to the community planning phase, and that will take seven years to complete,” says Chief Williams. The chief notes, “Hopetown was kept alive by Henry Speck, an elder of Gwawaenuk who never gave up the site. Because of Henry we are able to be in Hopetown doing the right thing by our nation.” 
 

The community will be revitalized by new technology in green energy to supply cleaner energy to new housing and community facilities. Project manager St. Pierre says, “This energy system will be a hybrid green energy system applicable to remote areas, supplied by Energy Alternatives.”

St. Pierre notes that the project includes remediation of an important creek on Watson Island, “bringing the creek back to Salmon-bearing standards. That is an exciting prospect in its own right.”

Hazco Environmental engaged in Hopetown revitalization

Hazco Environmental won the bid to work in Hopetown, B.C., on the restoration of foreshore, reclamation of a valuable creek, and soil remediation of about 4,000 CM of fuel-contaminated soil. Mike Torney is the Hazco person in charge of the project, “It’s clean-up of contaminated soil from leaky fuel tanks and 45-gallon fuel drums, and the amount of the material is found at a depth that would fill about 600 tandem-truck loads of soil.”

Torney explains, “The soil is screened on-site and all of it is put on a picking table to be closely examined by archaeologists. It’s a lot of work, and nothing can leave the site without going through the process.” The soil is barged out of Hopetown (on Watson Island, somewhat adjacent to the east of Port Hardy), “and taken to the Hazco Mount Waddington Bioremediation facility in Port McNeill.”

The re-mediated soil is used by the Mount Waddington landfill operators who use it as covering material. Meanwhile, back in Hopetown, Hazco will back-fill the hole left by soil remediation while recyclers take away the oil drums and tanks. Torney says, “The project involves a lot of logistics due to the remoteness of the location, and communications are an issue as well as the need for barging everything.” It is, however, “a beautiful site. I’ve been there both summer and winter.”

The Hopetown community was kept alive by Henry Speck, Kwakwak'awakw (Kwakiutl) carver with over two decades of carving experience. Henry and his wife were the only two permanent residents. Another concern for Hazco is the foreshore that was crumbling and threatening the existence of valuable midden sites. (Midden is by definition “a mound of domestic refuse containing shells and animal bones marking the site of a prehistoric settlement.” )
 

“We are responsible for rebuilding the foreshore to protect the midden sites, and we are restoring a creek to salmon-bearing standards. The project is geared toward completion by end of October or mid-November at the latest. Hazco has seen a busy year in 2010 working on First Nation environmental remediation projects. These kinds of projects compose a growing portfolio of First Nation work in Hazco’s sphere of operations.

“We always hire locally and concentrate some of our effort on skills development. These days these communities are all about building new capacity.” He says it’s good for Hazco, where he has worked for the past eight years of his 15 years in environmental remediation. “It’s good for everybody.”

Community revitalization by Kwicksutaineuk on Gilford Island

Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. provided the consulting engineering services on the infrastructure being built on Gilford Island. Jurek Bzowski was the project engineer, and Jurek says, “We worked on the water and wastewater management system and the power generation system. The remoteness presented some challenges, but the contractors figured it out.”

 The Gilford Island community water problems had to be resolved and a new sewage treatment system had to be installed. “The community laid out a new subdivision and now they have good water in place to allow a return of members.” Jurek sees the project as, “Pure progress. They have turned an exodus into an influx.” 

Under the Kwicksutaineuk leadership of Chief Bob Chamberlin the Gilford Island community revitalization began with rearranged layout of housing at foreshore, and construction of brand new houses in the subdivision. Derik Ewen of Ewen Contracting is acting general contractor, “We have three houses under construction. They will be in lock-up condition by the end of October,” and all six will be ready to accommodate new owners in March, 2011.

The work on other housing and community development will ensue beginning next spring. Gilford Island is revitalized by a process supplied by Slegg Lumber, and Layne Ward, Contract Sales, works closely with Richard Maris, Slegg North Island Representative, on projects like this. Ward calls it a logistics effort between customer, in this case, Kwicksutaneuk Nation, and General Contractor, Ewen Contracting, and the gentlemen from Slegg.

“Richard gives me the game plan,” says Ward, operating in the Cumberland branch of Slegg, “and I assemble delivery of all the components.” The Cumberland branch is become an important assembly point for Slegg Lumber in delivering building products to North Vancouver Island customers. “Everything is on-site in Cumberland and the logistics are much better for our North Island customers since this branch opened two years ago,” says Ward.

They have 50 employees and all the trucks, cranes, and equipment to deliver housing packages like the six going up in Gilford Island this month. “These construction sites are practically remote, and it all gets there on time, I get a list on Monday, I quote by Tuesday, the purchase order is delivered in the day or two after, and the goods are booked for delivery Friday.” The Slegg family owns the Slegg Lumber and affiliated companies that operate outlets on the west coast. Layne Ward and Richard Maris have each had life-long careers in the lumber business.

Sources Archaeology specializes in Kwakwala speaking region

Hartley Odwak has made a specialization of the archaeology on the Inside Passage as it relates directly to the Kwakwala speaking people. “I began Sources Archaeology in 1997,” says Odwak, “I became interested in recording the sites of the First Nations and their ancestry on North Vancouver Island.” It serves more than posterity. “”We solve problems with archaeology, by searching about where people were, and how long they have been there.”
 

They also preserve a knowledge stream that might just disappear in the face of change, be it weather, human interaction, and in the case of Hopetown, B.C., the revitalization of a community that thrived well past first contact with the industrial age. “We often work to catch something before it’s gone, and in some cases you have one chance at gaining information from years gone by.”
 

INAC consented to funding when the Gwawaneuk leadership needed foreshore middens studied and archaeology conducted at the same site in their community of Hopetown as the soil remediation work currently underway by Hazco Environmental. “These are my favourite projects,” says Odwak. “The Band comes to us with a proposal under their direction and control and they tell us, ‘Here’s what we want done,’ and we proceed under their direction.”
 

For Odwak it’s about the research. “We specialize in what used to be known as the Southern Kwalguilth, the Kwak’awak’wakw people,” with a focus on these First Nations, which span from Quatsino to Fort Rupert to Hopetown, and beyond. “It’s a proven 5,000 year human history in the community,” says Odwak. New carbon dating from the site is intended to prove this. “We’re finding a lot of animal bones.”

Fort Nelson First Nations work hard to stay engaged in a huge oil and gas play

Harvey Behn is the General Manager of Eh-Cho Dene Enterprises in Fort Nelson, B.C., a company and a community at the centre of a huge oil and gas region in full industrial bloom. It doesn’t get any more industrially active in oil and gas than it is right now in the surroundings of Fort Nelson, says Harvey.

It is his ancestral home as much as his current home, whereas Harvey is educated in oil and gas development with a Petroleum Engineering degree from University of Wyoming. “We are riding a tsunami of new development in the oil and gas industry around us, and we are surrounded by industry, government, and then there’s us, little Indians on the bottom trying to get up on the wave and ride it to survive.”

He stares at the spending program underway by oil and gas exploration companies (the number of which are too many to count, much less name) and he reflects upon the impact to the environment, the lifestyle of people in the area, and the ways to make opportunities a reality for his community.

As general manager of Eh-Cho Dene Enterprises construction company he employs up to 120 people during major construction projects. The company history dates back to the early 1980s, and in the past 20 years the Fort Nelson Dene people have established a lot of thriving businesses that operate in the town and region; many residents of the 500-person reserve either work for Dene-owned businesses or own one themselves. (Another 300 members buy or rent homes in Fort Nelson or area.)

The current pace of business activity is a little daunting even to a professional oil man with a long career like Harvey. “Just one oil company, for example, has a $1.2 billion exploration budget to outlay in drilling and all the obligations.” Harvey’s goal is to put Eh-Cho Dene trucks and equipment into a few of these expansive operations. Fort Nelson is their epicentre of activity, a place where Harvey was born and raised. He also sits on a six-member council, while the Eh-Cho Dene company is a limited owned by the Band, and run by a six-member board of directors.

Illustrative of how busy the activity is in Fort Nelson, says Harvey, “This year there was no spring break or slow-down in exploration activity. It was non-stop this year and we expect it to be running flat-out again this coming 2011.” This is good news for the 85 percent First Nation employees under his management. It makes for a thriving reserve adjacent Fort Nelson.

Recession hurt but Millbrook remains on track toward self-sufficiency

Millbrook First Nation in Truro, Nova Scotia, is well-positioned to develop their community into a self-sufficient First Nation, says Chief Lawrence Paul, “We have a wide range of developments underway, including a land-based aquaculture development growing Arctic Char,” and the chief notes the reason for a land-based growing facility, “Apparently the saltwater is too contaminated to grow healthy fish for human consumption so they are growing them in a land-based re-circulation system.”

He says the Arctic char are currently growing in the tanks in a Millbrook-owned facility, “There is a building on our Millbrook First Nation property, leased from us, and a few tents. They are hatching and beginning to grow out the salmon and trout.” This is but one in a list of economic developments that puts the Millbrook First Nation on the pathway to self-sufficiency.

“We developed the Truro Power Centre in 2001, which now includes a call centre, motel, RV park,  restaurant, and Tim Hortons,” and an anchor tenant in Sobey’s, which was the first tenant at the Truro Power Centre. On a satellite-reserve in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Millbrook First Nation has a new building that General Dynamics leased a couple years ago. General Dynamics will be designing, maintaining, and servicing software for the new Canadian Forces Sikorsky helicopters, which will begin arriving in Dartmouth in November 2010. 

In fact, this Mi'kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia governs the reserves of Millbrook IR 27, Cole Harbour 30, Beaver Lake I.R. 17, Sheet Harbour IR 36, Truro 27a, Truro 27b,and Truro 27c. Chief Paul works with a 12-member council that has highly qualified personnel in elected positions. They are elected from a membership over 1,400, “Closer to 1,500,” says the chief, “and that will increase to we expect close to 1,800 with a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision,” McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs), [2009] B.C.J. No. 669, the B.C. Court of Appeal, “that affects Band membership across Canada.” 

Prior to the current endeavors in economic development, says Lawrence, “our focus had been on the Highway 102 Connector to the TransCanada Highway. Now the focus is on a new hotel in immediate vicinity to Truro, Nova Scotia, in a destination-oriented tourism property that will include an indoor climate-controlled waterpark. “It will be busy from September to May each year,” says the chief. 

At the Cole Harbour reserve the Millbrook First Nation has VLT (Video Lottery Terminals) making them money. “These VLT’s are good income for Millbrook,” says the chief, “big breadwinners.” The VLT’s supplied much needed income for some of the current development that Millbrook is undergoing, and much-needed cash benefits to the community membership. “Every man, woman, and child receives $1,000 in the third week of June and $1,500 each November. For those under 19 years of age the money is held in trust until they become of-age.” 

The Millbrook community is able to thrive and people are working, “We are creating jobs for ourselves and adding community services, like a health centre and a youth centre. Our kids are enrolled in the public school system. We have 19 graduates coming out of high school this year.

“We have accessed programs at university and Nova Scotia Community College trades so our graduates can pursue post-secondary opportunities. Our administrators have university educations. For example, Alex Code, Band Manager, got a B.Admin at University of New Brunswick.”

Millbrook’s leadership mentored a handful of their members to become educated and available for administrative duties for a growing group of Millbrook communities. Once the 102 connector highway was established, due to no small amount of lobbying by Millbrook, they obtained access to the mainstream of provincial life and commercial opportunities began to emerge. 

“Commercially we are doing well, and the goal is self-sufficiency,” says Lawrence. “We are breaking away from government dependency and economic development is our course.” The excitement around Millbrook these days relates to the new hotel, naturally, “a $27 million facility that will employ skilled workers when it’s built,” and meanwhile, contracts to build will supplies jobs for a pool of labour.

Chief Lawrence Paul is an elder now, and he had a long career in various kinds of endeavors, “I was an auto body man, a furnace repair man, I went to business college, and Nova Scotia Agriculture College. I was in the army in 1951,” where he spent time in Germany during the post-war period of German reconstruction. He says, “In 1984, I decided to run for chief,” and he has served 14 consecutive terms now, 28 years in the office. “I am not ready for retirement. I have another term in me after this one.”

About 700 people live in the Millbrook sub-divisions beside Truro, “We have Band members all over Canada and the U.S.,” and those members can be proud of their ancestral home, “Native people are going to go forward same as the rest of society,” says the chief, “toward self-sufficiency and into the fight for the almighty dollar,” he quips. “Now that we have leveled the playing field we are promoting education as the way forward for our people.”

Self-sufficiency is in the not-too-distant future. “The recession hurt us too, but we recovered and we have opportunities to pursue that will make it happen sooner rather than later,” including management of the building and Band-owned property in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Glenn Squires is CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services of Halifax that developed and manages the Super 8 Motel located at the power centre, and Glenn says Millbrook's practical business model works well for the firm, one of Canada's largest privately-owned hotel management companies. 

 "We enjoy working with Millbrook and had a great experience with the partnership model, which works to the advantage of all," says Squires. "The relationship is very collaborative and geared to a win-win over the duration of any given project. We have done several quite successful projects with Millbrook and plan to do more in the future."

Power Centre businesses include a multiplex theatre, sit-down and drive-through restaurants, a 50-room hotel, a recreational vehicle retailer, a service station, a call centre, an aquaculture facility and the Glooscap Heritage Centre. Truro Power Centre is not the only location Millbrook has to offer for partnership opportunities.

The band owns other lands in Nova Scotia, including 19 hectares in Cole Harbour. In the past five years, the area has seen significant activity, and the Band built two apartment buildings in 2003 and 2007 worth more than $11 million. The buildings were designed specifically for empty nesters.

60 year Altagas agreement is rather unheard of

Myles Dougan is Vice-President in charge of communications at Altagas, speaking to the Forrest Kerr Run-of-River Hydro project that is proceeding in northern B.C. within the traditional territory of the Tahltan Nation. Dougan says, “This is a really good project that we are proceeding with, establishing long-term relationships with the Tahltan and BC Hydro.”

 

The project is signed with a 60-year agreement to sell power to BC Hydro, 195 MWh, enough to power 70,000 homes, “The 60-year agreement is rather unheard of,” says Dougan, “twenty, twenty-five are common, but 60 years is quite something.” The signings include transmission agreements. “That is the expectation.”

 

The project is under construction and initial clearing of the site is done, “and we are proceeding with the second half of initial construction. Everything is proceeding toward a completion date that will see power delivered to grid by 2014.

The Forrest Kerr Project will channel a portion of the Iskut River flow through a tunnel to an underground powerhouse, where it will pass through turbines to produce electricity before it is returned to the river. The Forrest Kerr Project was issued an environment assessment certificate in March 2010. Site development activities are currently underway and AltaGas anticipates initiating construction immediately.

 

"This project represents an exciting partnership for AltaGas with the Tahltan Nation and with the Government of British Columbia,” added Mr. Cornhill. “The Forrest Kerr Project will be a significant renewable energy asset, and is supported by 40 years of hydrology data and analysis.”

AltaGas and the Tahltan Nation have established a strong working relationship that will see the people of the Tahltan Nation having employment and business opportunities and economic participation in the Forrest Kerr Project.

 "The Tahltan Nation is proud of this Impact Benefit Agreement with Coast Mountain Hydro Corp. and the increased economic security that it will provide for generations to come,” said Annita McPhee, Chair, Tahltan Central Council. “This agreement establishes ownership, management of our resources and profit sharing while taking into consideration the protection of our environment as a renewable energy project. This IBA will set the bar for resource development projects and demonstrates the results of a successful relationship with a company in Tahltan Territory that respects our Aboriginal title and rights"

The Forrest Kerr construction site located in northwest British Columbia, about 100 km from Stewart, BC., AltaGas expects the Forrest Kerr Project to be the first of three run-of-river power generation projects in the area. The company continues development of its McLymont Creek and Volcano Creek projects.

 

“The Forrest Kerr Project represents an important evolution in AltaGas’ power business as we continue to build long-term contracted generation assets,” said David Cornhill, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AltaGas. “These projects will provide the people of British Columbia with clean and reliable power from a significant water resource. For our investors, this announcement comes at an important time in history as governments move to reduce emissions while building for the future.”

The Forrest Kerr Project is to be constructed wholly within Tahltan Nation traditional territory and is estimated to cost a total of approximately $700 million. Once completed, the project will offset more than 450,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas equivalents annually. The Forrest Kerr Project will deliver electricity to the terminus point of a 287-kV Northwest Transmission Line (NTL), near Bob Quinn, BC. (BC Hydro is developing the NTL.)

Meanwhile Altagas successfully completed of the Bear Mountain Wind Energy Project at Dawson Creek, B.C., after they began erecting wind turbines in May 2009. By July 2009, the first wind turbine was completed, and by October the construction of 34 wind turbines was completed, on budget and ahead of schedule. “So far the electrical generation is not quite as strong as we had hoped,” but time, and more wind, will tell the story.

Mutual benefits bring LNIB and Trace Resources together

Trace Resources in Merritt, B.C., is a company closely tied to working with First Nations like Lower Nicola Indian Band, leasing land on LNIB reserve property, employing First Nations from LNIB, and working with the Shulus Forestry, owned by LNIB (run by Trevor Ball).
   

 Ron Racine is one of the owners of Trace Resources. “We run our operations on LNIB, near Merritt, and we employ people there. We’ve been operating for one and a half years manufacturing forestry fibre for chips, hog fuel, and some logs for market.”
    

The company picks the highest value usage for the fibre and ultimately uses a lot of low-cost fibre in their operations. In fact, the company has caught the attention of the B.C. government, “With companies like Trace, we’re turning the mountain pine beetle infestation into a bioenergy opportunity that will create jobs and meet our climate goals,” said Forestry Minister Pat Bell, while he toured Trace’s grinding operations north of Merritt.
    

“We’re seeing a whole new industry developing – an industry that leaves no piece of wood behind.”  Trace Resources formed in October 2008 in answer to new opportunities around the utilization of wood waste. Together with an affiliated company, Jaeden Resources, it recently put into operation two grinders and loaders worth $1.8 million.
    

Trace is following the learning curve and, “learning by doing,” says Racine. Chips are used by pulp mills like Harmac Pacific Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) pulp mill located on the east coast of Vancouver Island near Nanaimo, British Columbia, and Howe Sound Pulp and Paper. Hog Fuel is sold there, and to Belgium. Logs go to market. 
    

Racine says, “LNIB was looking for partners to move products from their forestry operations and we were looking for land to put our operations, and fibre for those operations, and skills in forestry operations,” and found all of this in LNIB. Racine’s company found the LNIB operations and personnel to be innovative and relationship oriented.
    

Racine says, “The relationship is based on three principles, the land lease, the employment of LNIB personnel both directly and indirectly, and the operation of the FRA forest license owned by LNIB.” Trace operates on a ten hectare site north-west of Merritt. “We have buildings, a scale for weighing fibre, and a chip plant. Some of the timber is processed for log sales.”

The company maximizes profits from the wood fibre they receive from LNIB and other First Nation forest licensees. “It’s full utilization of the wood.”

Log moving done by barge at Seaspan

Seaspan International moves logs on the water. They do it on the west coast and run logs from Alaska to California, but we’re talking to the Vancouver offices, and Glen Mcgee, Manager, Log Barge Division. “We celebrated our 100th anniversary a couple years ago,” says Mcgee.
    

First Nations work for Seaspan in positions, “across the whole fleet, captains, mates, deck hands,” and logs moved by Seaspan come from First Nation forestry operations more and more on the west coast, “It’s changing,” says Mcgee, “It used to be the big forestry companies. Now First Nations and a lot of smaller companies are brokering wood and moving logs to market.”
     

Seaspan makes direct contact with First Nations or intermediaries to market fibre, “A company like John Mohammed’s A & A Trading hires us to move the wood that is owned by First Nations Nuxalk Nation and Klahoose First Nation.” Other things have changed with Seaspan, “We used to be in log towing by log boom, but now we operate log barges, three of them, moving logs, and chip scows to barge chips to pulp mills.”
    

Safety comes first in the business of moving logs at Seaspan. “It looks simple but there are no second chances. We find various levels of safety on the docks are facilities that we visit, but the big companies like ourselves put in tons of training and adhere to the highest standards. It varies and we are more vigilant in some of the local pick-ups.
    

A run from Vancouver to Anchorage for example is a 10-day round trip. Nanaimo to Port Alberni is a 36 hour voyage. Seaspan log barges have a crew of six, four working at a time (two on respite). The crews are flown in and out. The personnel are machine experienced employees receiving good pay and good tme-out periods. “Our crews are ‘crane-safe’ operators working on our three barges. The loads are 600 to 700 truck-loads per barge on the biggest vessel. It takes about eight to 12 hours to load.”
    

The dump sites are usually on the Fraser River, or as they say in the  industry, ‘The River,’ including Haney, and Riverview, and in the New Westminster log sorting ground. Seaspan discharges on both dock and into the river. Howe Sound used to be a area of intense log sort activity but that is no longer the case, although logs continue to be discharged there, with a lot of chips delivered to Howe Sound Pulp and Paper.
     

Other sites for discharge include Ladysmith Harbour and Bernice Arm, and Nanaimo as well, especially when shipments are destined for Asian markets. Seaspan's Log Barge Division employs 16.

Two First Nation historic sites for summer visits, Rocky Mtn House, and Hat Creek

Eight different First Nations as well as Métis are known to have traded at Rocky Mountain House over the 76-year history of the trading posts. This includes the Nehiyawak, Piikani, Siksika, Kainai, Ktunaxa, Tsuu T’ina , Nakoda, and Atsina.
    

The year 2010 marks the sixth year of partnership between Parks Canada’s Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site and the Métis Nation of Alberta. At Bastions & Bones, August 20 – 22, 2010, Blackfoot culture will feature special guest drummers, dancers and ceremonialists from the Piikani Nation.
    

The event commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Piikani blockade on the North Saskatchewan River.  The blockade prevented David Thompson and his North West Company Brigade from continuing west to trade with First Nations on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. This is part of the International David Thompson Bicentennial initiatives.
    

Historic Hat Creek Ranch is in Bonaparte First Nation territory, and Bonaparte is well-represented on-site.  Sandra Gaspard, Bonaparte member, is Manager of Historic and Cultural Operations, and Curator of the significant First Nation presence at the facilities. “We have five different knowledge streams of Shuswap culture to explain,” says Gaspard.
    

On display are cooking and food preservation, lodging, hide and tannery, a replica kikuli that can house 23 people. The historic site features many outstanding structures like an 1860 Roadhouse to go along with the Shuswap Native Interpretive Site, which itself employs eight people, all with First Nation heritage.
    

On the second weekend of August the First Nations host a traditional Pow-Wow on-site at the Historic Hat Creek Ranch, “It’s no-charge admission and we are often feeding the crowd with breakfast or lunch during the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.,” says Gaspard. 

Meanwhile, until the closing at the end of September, visitors can experience Shuswap ancestry performing drum, flute, and 17 styles of dance. 

ACES certification for ocean fisheries continues to evolve

The coastal people on both sides of the Americas made their diet from the oceans. They sustained a relationship with a pristine environment and whether it ever returns to pristine is an open question but people in the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association want to work in that direction. Therefore they created Aboriginal Certification of Environmental Sustainability in Aquaculture (ACES).
    

Chief Richard Harry, Homalco First Nation in Campbell River, B.C., has spent more than a decade developing awareness about fish and seafood from the First Nation point of view through the AAA.  ACES was developed to identify First Nation criteria, and Chief Harry says, "We have some assistance to develop ACES pilot programs on the west coast of Canada, including local First Nations and Mainstream Canada."
    

ACES begins with integration into existing programs and engages various industry and environmental players to create a sustainable fisheries and seafood economy. It includes everything from farm-based components to area-based components, to regional components. Certification under an emerging Aboriginal system would be supported by program monitoring, auditing, and other certification processes, and program compliance incentives are built-in to the ACES framework.
    

ACES was first introduced in 2006, "The concept we've got is what we're putting legs to." The program reaches all levels of coastal fisheries and covers a wide range that needs to fit with models of sustainable development. "Environmentally speaking the First Nations often have different concerns from place to place." Example: the Haida have large fishery in Dungeness Crabs that exists no other place. 
    

 Mainstream Canada (Cermaq) contributed funding to launch a pilot program on monitoring fish farm developments from the Aboriginal perspective, with the intention to make operations compliant with the wider area of interests operating in the coast. ACES will be developing out of these pilot efforts to operate sustainable development in the coastal economy.

Recession hurt but Millbrook remains on track toward self-sufficiency

Millbrook First Nation in Truro, Nova Scotia, is well-positioned to develop their community into a self-sufficient First Nation, says Chief Lawrence Paul, “We have a wide range of developments underway, including a land-based aquaculture development growing Arctic Char,” and, the chief notes, the reason for a land-based growing facility, is, “Apparently the saltwater is too contaminated to grow healthy fish for human consumption so they are growing them in a land-based re-circulation system.”

Alex Cope, Millbrook Band Manager, says fish farms are not that friendly to the environment and can not be controlled as in land based facilities. The chief says the Arctic char are currently growing in the tanks in a Millbrook-owned facility, “There are buildings on our Millbrook First Nation property, leased from us, where they are hatching and beginning to grow out the Arctic char, and some salmon and trout.”

This is but one in a list of economic developments that puts the Millbrook First Nation on the pathway to self-sufficiency.  “We developed the Truro Power Centre in 2001, which now includes a call centre, motel, RV park,  restaurant, and Tim Hortons,” and an anchor tenant in Sobey’s, which was the first tenant at the Truro Power Centre.

On a satellite-reserve in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Millbrook First Nation constructed a new building that General Dynamics leased a couple years ago. General Dynamics is designing, maintaining, and servicing software for the new Canadian Forces Sikorsky helicopters, which will begin arriving in Dartmouth in November 2010.

In fact, this Mi'kmaq First Nation in Nova Scotia governs the reserves of Millbrook IR 27, Cole Harbour 30, Beaver Lake I.R. 17, Sheet Harbour IR 36, Truro 27a, Truro 27b,and Truro 27c. Chief Paul works with a 12-member council that has highly qualified personnel in elected positions. They are elected from a membership over 1,400, “Closer to 1,500,” says the chief, “and that will increase to we expect close to 1,800 with a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision,” McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs), [2009] B.C.J. No. 669, the B.C. Court of Appeal, “that affects Band membership across Canada.”

Prior to the current endeavors in economic development, says Lawrence, “our focus had been on the Highway 102 Connector to the TransCanada Highway. Now the focus is on a new hotel in immediate vicinity to Truro, Nova Scotia, in a destination-oriented tourism property that will include an indoor climate-controlled waterpark. “It will be busy year-round,” says the chief.

Alex Cope says, “We have three buildings with VLTs (Video Lottery Terminals) in Millbrook, three centres in Cole Harbour, and one in Sheet Harbour with a total of 117 machines VLTs,” and the VLTs are making money. “These VLT’s are good income for Millbrook,” says the chief, “big breadwinners.” The 117 VLT’s supplied much needed income for some of the current development that Millbrook is undergoing, and much-needed cash benefits to the community membership.

“Every man, woman, and child receives $1,000 in the third week of June and $1,500 each November. For those under 19 years of age the money is held in trust until they become of-age.” The Millbrook community is able to thrive and people are working, “We are creating jobs for ourselves and adding community services, like a health centre and a youth centre. Our kids are enrolled in the public school system. We have 19 graduates coming out of high school this year.

“We have accessed programs at university and Nova Scotia Community College trades so our graduates can pursue post-secondary opportunities. Our administrators have university educations. For example, Alex, our Band Manager, got a B.Admin at University of New Brunswick.”

Millbrook’s leadership mentored a handful of their members to become educated and available for administrative duties for a growing group of Millbrook communities. Once the 102 connector highway was established, due to no small amount of lobbying by Millbrook, they obtained access to the mainstream of provincial life and commercial opportunities began to emerge.

“Commercially we are doing well, and the goal is self-sufficiency,” says Lawrence. “We are breaking away from government dependency and economic development is our course.” The excitement around Millbrook these days relates to the new hotel, naturally, “a $27 million facility that will employ skilled workers when it’s built,” and meanwhile, contracts to build will supply jobs for a growing Millbrook First Nation labour pool.

Chief Lawrence Paul is an elder now, and he had a long career in various kinds of endeavors, “I was an auto body man, a furnace repair man, I went to business college, and Nova Scotia Agriculture College. I was in the army in 1951,” where he spent time in Germany during the post-war period of German reconstruction. He says, “In 1984, I decided to run for chief,” and he has served 14 consecutive terms now, 28 years in the office. “I am not ready for retirement. I have another term in me after this one.”

Nine hundred Band members live in Truro area, and 100 non band members and 100 non natives dwell in the Millbrook sub-divisions beside Truro, “We have Band members all over Canada and the U.S.,” and those members can be proud of their ancestral home, “Native people are going to go forward same as the rest of society,” says the chief, “toward self-sufficiency and into the fight for the almighty dollar,” he quips.

“Now that we have leveled the playing field we are promoting education as the way forward for our people.” Self-sufficiency is in the not-too-distant future. “The recession hurt us too, but we recovered and we have opportunities to pursue that will make it happen sooner rather than later,” including management of the building and Band-owned property in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Glenn Squires is CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services of Halifax that developed and manages the Super 8 Motel located at the power centre, and Glenn says Millbrook's practical business model works well for the firm, one of Canada's largest privately-owned hotel management companies.

"We enjoy working with Millbrook and had a great experience with the partnership model, which works to the advantage of all," says Squires. "The relationship is very collaborative and geared to a win-win over the duration of any given project. We have done several quite successful projects with Millbrook and plan to do more in the future."

Power Centre businesses include a multiplex theatre, sit-down and drive-through restaurants, a 50-room hotel, a recreational vehicle retailer, a service station, a call centre, an aquaculture facility and the Glooscap Heritage Centre. Truro Power Centre is not the only location Millbrook has to offer for partnership opportunities.

The band owns other lands in Nova Scotia, including 19 hectares in Cole Harbour. In the past five years, the area has seen significant activity, and the Band built two apartment buildings in 2003 and 2007 worth more than $11 million. The buildings were designed specifically for empty nesters.