First Nations in the Atlantic region expect investment opportunities, partnerships in major developments

ANTIGONISH, NS – If you’re looking for a big project in northern Nova Scotia, you’re going to meet Rose Paul.

Because if you don’t knock on her door, the general manager of the Bayside Development Corporation will find you.

“When projects happen in my area, I go straight to the top to see who they are,” Paul told a panel discussion on Indigenous investment at the Atlantic Economic Forum on Wednesday.

In recent years, First Nations across Atlantic Canada have increasingly moved to take ownership interests.

Most notable was the $1 billion purchase of Clearwater by a consortium of five Nova Scotia First Nations and the premium brand fish processing company.

But even if not wholly owned, an opportunity to take an ownership stake and a resulting share of the profits of major developments is now an expectation for nearby First Nations.

Paq’tnkek, Potlotek, and Membertou have all become investors in EverWind Fuels (how many have yet to be released). EverWind bought the former NuStart transfer terminal in Point Tupper and is working on a $6 billion project to build a massive amount of wind turbines to supply the proposed green hydrogen/ammonia plant at the site.

Membertou and Millbrook First Nations have become regional economic drivers with their major developments in industrial Cape Breton and Colchester County.

Titled Indigenous Business and Economic Development Opportunities for Atlantic Canada, the panel featured Paul, Cape Breton University business professor Mary Beth-Doucette, Ulnooweg chief operating officer Christopher Googoo and Indigenous Works CEO Kelly Lendsay discussing the way ahead – for First Nations, for companies and institutions.

Paul explained how Paq’tnkek has spent the past decade reshaping its own legal and financial accounting structures to enable it to capitalize on business opportunities.

The Bayside Development Corporationwhich she heads is the business arm of Paq’tnkek.

It built and opened the $13 million Bayside Center along Highway 104 in 2018, which includes a gas bar, restaurant, convenience store and commercial space.

“The tax management law has been a powerful tool for us in my First Nation,” Paul said of the law available on the Bayside website outlining the financial management structure under which Paq’tnkek operates.

“We used these tools to get financially managed and certified.”

That has made them a more attractive partner to developers looking for both investment and public support for their projects.

Looking to the future, the leaders of the panel said they expect to work with both the private sector and public institutions in future developments.

Within their own community, Googoo said the concentration should focus on exposure to science, technology, engineering and math because that’s the future of the economy.

“We need to build digital skills in our kids — that exposure to technology that builds human capital,” Googoo said.

Ulnooweg is a non-profit organization that provides mentorship and loans to Indigenous businesses, technology and science programming in schools, and facilitates the creation of Indigenous targeted scholarships, grants, and donor-designated funds.