KITSAKI MANAGEMENT LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
LAC LA RONGE INDIAN BAND
HISTORY: |
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| Early in 1980 the Lac La Ronge Band Council met to determine the future of their community. They decided to develop business ventures that provided employment opportunities for First Nations people. But they had few resources, and no means of accessing investment or loan capital. |  |
| In a bold move they formed the Kitsaki Development Corporation, now Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership as a commercial entity that could borrow money against its collateral like any business venture off the reserve. | |
| Twenty five years later, Kitsaki has become one of the best examples of community-based economic development in the province. The band of 8,000 First Nations people owns or jointly owns a variety of businesses that together gross over $70 million. Kitsaki has also been a leader in developing education and training programs for band members and other aboriginal people. | |
LLRIB Chief & Council |
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In September 1999, Chief Harry Cook made an appeal to the Saskatchewan business community. “I believe that there are always business opportunities available, and it is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said. “But it is also in the best interest of the non-First Nations governments and business community to co-operate with us, so we can make sure our growing population becomes an important segment of Saskatchewan’s workforce.” |
Former Chief Harry Cook |
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| The Chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band was thinking of a recent study that predicted the First Nations population of Saskatchewan would triple over the next fifty years, to 350,000. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate was also predicted to increase – from fifty-three percent today to eighty-three percent by 2050. | |
| “We must try to grow our own business to make sure that these gloomy projections do not happen,” Chief Cook stated simply. | |
Harry Cook, was raised in Stanley Mission on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. He worked with his parents, traditional trappers and fishermen, until he was sent away to residential school in Prince Albert at the age of nine. He later returned to Stanley Mission, but in the 1950s it was difficult to earn even a subsistence living as a trapper and Harry returned to Prince Albert and enrolled in high school. He later trained as a welder and was hired by Westeel. He worked there for thirteen years building grain bins and fuel tanks, and saw first-hand what was required to build a small business into a large business. |
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| With his wife, Rose, and their two daughters, he spent two of his three weeks annual vacation up north every year. As the years passed in Regina, they found themselves missing the north more and more, until they finally decided to move back. | |
| Harry became Coordinator of Band Housing, then served on band council and in 1987 he was elected Chief, serving continuously until retiring in 2005. He remains active in La Ronge and still sits on the Board of Directors of Cameco Corporation. | |
| “Aboriginal people must take the initiative to develop businesses for our own benefit,” he states, “or others will do it for theirs. We have everything to gain by taking action and everything to lose if we do not.” | |
| Harry’s vision goes back to the late 1970s when Chief Myles Venne and the La Ronge Band Council were beginning to recognize that economic development was a concern they needed to address. Unless the band was involved in a project, they had noticed, band members seldom got any jobs from it. |  |
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| It was obvious to Chief Venne that northern development was accelerating, and all kinds of business opportunities were becoming available. The band had better take some ownership, he thought, if they wanted to guide the development of the north in a way that benefited northern communities and was not harmful to the environment. | |
| From this vision rose the Kitsaki Development Corporation. | |
| Tom J. Mckenzie was chief of the La Ronge Band from 1983 - 1985. He was the first band leader with a university degree (education). Tom also saw the importance of economic development and thus began the tradition of potential support for business and the recognition that business had be run on business principles and that while political support was important, professional managers had to make the management decisions. |  |
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| The Key Lake Mining Corporation was looking for northern businesses to provide services to their mine. Government regulations gave a preference to northern businesses interested in bidding on contracts, and Key Lake was ideally situated as it began work on a new mine. A joint-venture called Kitsaki- Brodsky was formed. Brodsky provided the crusher, loader, and management and Kitsaki supplied six gravel trucks. The company successfully bid for the contract, but when the band approached the bank in 1981 to borrow money for the project, they were informed that the band was not “a person at law.” They could not, therefore, borrow money. | |
| Taking legal advice, they decided to form a company, with shares owned by the band members and held in trust by the Chief. The result was that on December 14th, 1981 Kitsaki Development Corporation was formed. The band hired a professional manager and completed the Key Lake contract. | |
The experience gained on this joint venture paved the way for a new partnership with Trimac Transportation called Northern Resource Trucking (NRT), which has since earned a well-deserved reputation as a successful Native-owned business. With NRT as a cornerstone, Kitsaki developed a number of business enterprises in a range of sectors. NRT reorganized in 1995 to include eight other First Nations and three Metis communities as equity partners, including:
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| Kitsaki now has several other investments in virtually various sectors of the regional economy. | |
| “One of the reasons for our success,” according to former Chief Harry cook, “is that Kitsaki wants to manage a group of companies rather than individual companies. We attempt to obtain ownership positions in firms where the management in place are highly motivated entrepreneurs, or a strong corporate partner. We look at business deals in terms, first, of profits; second, participation in management through ownership; and third, employment.” | |
| Kitsaki business investments currently include partnerships with a number of First Nations and non-First Nations firms, including: | |
| Wapawekka Lumber Limited Partnership. A partnership with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, and Weyerhaeuser, Wapawekka started production in the spring of 1999 and employed about forty-five highly skilled technical people. The business is temporarily closed now due to the ramifications of the Canadian U.S. Softwood lumber issues. | |
| Northern Resource Trucking. This partnership includes a dozen different Indian and Metis communities across Northern Saskatchewan as well as Trimac Transportation, one of the largest bulk haulers in North America. NRT employs approximately 100 people and supplies all of the bulk hauling for Cameco and Areva. | |
| Athabasca Catering Limited Partnership. A partnership with four other First Nations performs food service and janitorial work at four different uranium mine sites operated by Cameco, the Areva operated mill at McLean Lake and the Shore Gold diamond exploration site. It employs about 400 people. | |
| La Ronge Hotel And Suites. Kitsaki is the sole owner of the only full-service hotel in La Ronge, employing on the average seventy-five full-time and part-time people. The hotel includes recently renovated rooms, a restaurant, convention facilities, a lounge, and a beverage room. | |
| La Ronge Industries. One of the largest growers of wild rice in Canada, LRI builds on the historical agriculture of the Woodland Cree. | |
| Northern Lights Foods Limited Partnership. This business sells Organic Wild rice and other organic products around the world. | |
| First Nations Insurance Services. This corporation is an insurance broker providing group pension and benefits to First Nations and their organizations. Kitsaki currently owns this business together with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. | |
| Keewatin/Procon Mining. A partnership that includes the Athabasca First Nations and the community of Pinehouse, performs contract mining services for the mining industry in Saskatchewan. It is joint ventured with Procon Mining and Tunneling. | |
| Canada North Environmental Service. Owned 100% by Kitsaki, CanNorth does a wide variety of environmental work in Western Canada. | |
| Dakota Dunes Golf Links. Dakota Dunes Golf Links is a partnership venture between Whitecap Dakota First Nation, the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, and Kitsaki. | |
| The Prince Albert Inn, the Marlboro Inn, and the Marquis Inn. These three Prince Albert hotels are owned by Kitsaki and the First Nations of the Prince Albert Grand Council. | |
| “As you can see,” says former Chief Cook, “we consider partnerships to be an important element of our future. Economic development is long term; successful businesses are not built in a few short months. It takes years to build them up.” While the co-operation of business and governments has been instrumental in creating a good business climate for the First Nations, it has been more important “to constantly remind ourselves that, as political leaders, it is up to us to have a long-term vision for a growing, healthy First Nations business sector. But it is not our place, as politicians, to manage those businesses. That we must leave to the business managers.” | |
| Currently, there are about 500 people working for the Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership companies. Approximately one-third are from the Lac La Ronge band, one-third from other First Nations, and one-third are non-First Nations. The level of education among First Nations is low, and many people have limited work experience, but the challenge of preparing First Nations people for employment is one of the main reasons Kitsaki was started in the first place. | |
| Lacking the economic benefits of oil, natural gas, or treaty land entitlements, the La Ronge band has achieved its success on the strength of northern people understanding the value of the human and natural resources that are available in their communities. | |
| Former Chief Harry Cook credits his own success to a balanced life: “My priority is my wife and kids. It is easier to deal with issues with a loving and caring home. This gives me the energy and ability to care for others.” Similarly, “In order to have a good society, we must have stable and healthy families. Broken homes provide little guidance and direction for our young. This is part of my leadership approach and vision for the future for all Saskatchewan people.!” | |