November 8, 2018 - Prince Albert, Saskatchewan - Session 1

Date: November 8, 2018
Location: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Total participants

Key themes or ideas

1. Procurement is huge and could reduce the cyclical nature of commodity cycles.
2. Education continues to be underfunded and training needs to be targeted on job available.
3. Defense procurement – This is a challenging area to break in to.
4. Infrastructure needs from electricity, telecom to satellite need to be developed for basic necessity and to make projects more viable in the north.
5. Capitalizing on local strengths.
6. We need to seek new opportunities.

Q1) What does a stronger western Canadian economy look like 10 years from now?

• The northern economy is a lot different that the rest of the Canadian economy.  With that thought what can be brought forward to develop industry.
• Indigenous schools get less funding; we continue to provide training to what avail?  We train people as operators and these jobs maybe replaced by AI or technology.
• The power grid is very important. Not only does it provide northern employment but new infrastructure makes some projects more viable as the grid gets closer.
• We are just touching on fresh fish. Lake Athabasca could support the extraction of 1.5 million pounds annually. This could be a value added market opportunity if developed.

Q2) What are the best ways to spur new growth in western Canada

• Cannabis was a major lost opportunity for indigenous people. When looking at other sectors we are replacing or competing with other companies while this was a new opportunity.  Providing access to these opportunities particularly in a highly regulated environment could spur growth.
• If Indigenous companies also had access to more procurement is could smooth the cyclical nature of the commodity cycles out.
• A set aside would allow more time to train people up properly and have a continuous stream of work.
• There maybe other opportunities with northern plants, non-timber forest products, areas such as nutraceutical and pharmaceuticals, and additives to feed.
• Infrastructure – Roads provide the opportunity to travel while isolated communities pay $12-$1500 for air service.
  • How can we participate in manufacturing? There are some rare earth materials in the north but no infrastructure to mine. With access to the infrastructure, batteries could be produced for example.
• The granite of northern Saskatchewan is of table top quality, access to rail would make this more feasible.
• Procurement can not be emphasized enough. The open tender system as it stands has some flaws as dying companies make very low bids to try to extend their companies life.
• If uranium comes back that’s good, but you need a strategy (fishing, manufacturing, tourism).

Q3) What will help the Indigenous economy continue to grow?

• We need to try to grow the volume of business so that there is some scale to attract investment. Currently there are capacity issues, production scale up concerns and then finding the market/access to market.
• People are eating a lot healthier compared to 10-15 years ago.  There are opportunities in non-timber forest products in this market segment.
• Education is lacking in Northern Saskatchewan. This is not just a government issue but industry as well. With the down turn in the economy there needs to be a focus on training which would include tutors to provide proper math and science (STEM) skills. While ice in the rinks is nice training in an applicable job is more useful long term.
  • In addition, the under funding in the k-12 system is pulling funds from post secondary training as dollars are required to get students up to level to enter the post secondary system.
• How do we expect participation when living and cost associated with that are a problem, i.e. some people can’t afford the vegetables that are shipped up?
• We need to look at other norther regions, such as the territories, Sweden etc. to learn from their experiences.
• Growth innovation and technology are getting away from things to move indigenous people forward. Focus on the basics from procurement, federal/provincial relations, and infrastructure.
  • Need to look at the day to day life putting food on the table, family and self esteem. We have been trying to clone northerners as those in the south. We are hunter/gatherers that never transition to agriculture but now are looking at the space age

Q4) How can we improve economic participation in the west of underrepresented groups, including women, youth, and new immigrants

• There are more women in the non-timber forest area traditionally.
• We don’t have the infrastructure, day care etc. so mothers use grandmas while working.
• The youth walking the street have grade 12 but no jobs. They are reluctant to move out and there are a lack of supports with the different upbringing.

Q5) How can governments, industry, and western Canadians work together to grow the regional economy?

• Regulatory issues and approvals are holding communities back, i.e. pipelines and Star Diamond.
• Defense aerospace is an area that could be considered but we have been unable to crack this market segment.
• With support in research, we could identify more uses for northern plants.
• We need to look at land use issues before they come up. Currently most non-timer forest products are on crown land, which has traditional type uses (hunting/fishing). At some point there maybe increased tension from development in these areas.
• Finding investment is a challenge as most are risk averse but in these companies need access to capital to grow.
• When the province was divided in to different enterprise, regions this was good.
• In the north we don’t have a developed economy and some traditional funding mechanisms such as Community Futures organizations are not useful.