Friday, April 15, 2005 - The Halifax Herald Limited
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Turning Membertou around
Band achieves success

By TOM PETERS / Business Reporter

A decade of hard work and a progressive business strategy have pulled the First Nations community of Membertou from poverty and indebtedness to a community with a solid financial future, Bernd Christmas said Thursday.

PETER PARSONS / Staff
Bernd Christmas, Membertou Development Corporation CEO, speaks during a NovaKnowledge luncheon in Halifax on Thursday.

The chief executive officer of the Membertou Development Corporation said that in 1995 Membertou had an operating budget of $4.5 million and was nearly $1 million in debt.

Today, after developing a very structured plan to become self-sustaining, Membertou has an operating budget of $65 million, employs over 500 people, has nearly 100 per cent employment and has assets of $45 million.

In a NovaKnowledge luncheon address in Halifax, Mr. Christmas, the first Mi'kmaq lawyer in Canada, chronicled his community's struggle with poverty, high employment and lack of self-esteem and how, through business, it changed its social and financial standing.

He said the leaders of the community, "tired of living in poverty," made a decision to change. They knew government assistance was slowly reduced and they didn't want to be forever dependent.

The strategy was to bring people back to Membertou who had left to get an education and better jobs and who could contribute to rebuilding. The plan was to get into the business world and develop services that could be sold on the world market.

With the help of the federal government, the community got its finances in order, had its human resources in place and then looked for something "that would set us apart."

The community spent 14 months working on its management and became the first indigenous government to become ISO 9001:2000 compliant.

That achievement was a signal to the business community and government that Membertou was serious about change.

"We said now we are ready to move forth and are ready to engage companies and government in a meaningful way," he said.

The first major company Membertou attracted was SNC Lavalin, which was followed by contracts with Clearwater, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Canada, Sodexho Canada and several others. It developed businesses and created jobs.

Recently, Membertou opened a large trade and convention centre, which includes an upscale restaurant.

Mr. Christmas said Membertou has made an effort to diversify its businesses with interests in fishing, gaming, construction, real estate, geomatics, retail, aerospace and other industries.

He said the future looks very promising as Membertou discusses potential work in the oil and gas sector, manufacturing, the development of a large manufacturing outlet complex, plus more aerospace and defence work.

Mr. Christmas said Membertou, which is now working with other First Nations communities to develop their business agendas, is a good example of what can happen when there is communication between government and the private sector.

"There is a way to support aboriginal communities," he said.

Copyright © 2005 The Halifax Herald Limited