Five-year action plan in place for economic development on reserve

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EEL GROUND - Last April the Eel Ground First Nation, near Miramichi, put the wheels in motion for a five-year action plan to create economic development within the reserve. Just one year into the program, the community is starting to see positive results.

Eel Ground First Nation Chief George Ginnish said there were certain things he wanted to see addressed through the action plan, whether it be forging business partnerships or "kick starting some of the things that had happened in the community in the past but for whatever reason they were kind of languishing or weren't getting the support..."

Ginnish said Northern Star Lodge was on that list of languishing opportunities. The lodge, built about eight years ago, wasn't being used as frequently as originally hoped.

The action plan went to work trying to reverse that reality. Office space began to be leased to the North Shore Mi'kmaq District Council and lodge space was being used as a headquarters for the community's economic development corporation. Also, the space started to be used for educational purposes in a joint partnership between the New Brunswick Community College and Aboriginal Skills Employment Partnership New Brunswick Inc., for a federally-funded forestry course.

"It's training 15 youngsters from pretty much all over New Brunswick to work in their communities as commercial forest managers or a first step towards working as fishery officers or environment and habitat," said Ginnish of the 45-week program. He said there are hopes to have the program grow to be able to accommodate training for up to 50 people.

Ginnish said the program also has the goal of giving people the chance to become educated with the option of staying close to home.

"A lot of folks would love to stay where their families are and work in the area or at least train so that they can stay here," Ginnish said in an interview.

Don Saunders, an advisor to the Eel Ground economic action plan, said employees and employers are both benefiting from the lodge's expanded use and the programs as a whole.

"It's now been leased to an Aboriginal agency and they're employing people and using the space... it's very positive for the reserve," he said.

Saunders also talked about a partnership between Eel Ground First Nation and the Miramichi Salmon Association, located just across the river where an authentic aboriginal fishing camp is in the works of being developed.