Award captured for aboriginal partnerships.Forestry sector lends management expertise to First Nations' community A Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it partnership. between Waabigon Saaga'igan Anishinaabe Anishinaabe or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek (which is the plural form of the word) is a self-description often used by people belonging to the indigenous Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonkin peoples of North America, who share closely related Algonquian languages. First Nation, Bowater Forest Products Bowater Forest Products in Thunder Bay, Ontario began as Great Lakes Forest Products (GLFP) in 1898. Investments by American entrepreneurs from Chicago and Minneapolis created one of the largest paper and newsprint mills in the world on the northern shore of the Kaministiquia River. Division (Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. Woodlands Operations) and Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. (Dryden) has been selected as the winner of the first annual Ontario Aboriginal Partnerships Aboriginal Award. The award was announced in November by Ontario's Attorney General and minister responsible for Native Affairs, Jim Flaherty James Michael "Jim" Flaherty, PC, BA, LL.B, MP (born December 30, 1949) is Canada's Minister of Finance; he had formerly served as Ontario's Minister of Finance. .From 1995 until 2005 he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby—Ajax, representing the , and celebrates a successful Ontario-based business partnership between an aboriginal business, community or organization, and either a non-aboriginal business, community or organization. The collaboration Working together on a project. See collaborative software. between Waabigon Saaga'igan Anishinaabe First Nation, Bowater and Weyerhaeuser has resulted in the formation and successful operation of the Wabigoon Anishnaabe Gitigewin Inc. Tree Nursery, a 94,000-square-foot facility located on-reserve near Dryden. The nursery is owned and operated by the Waabigon Saaga'igan Anishinaabe First Nation and currently employs eight fulltime staff and between 30 and 40 seasonal workers. It has the capacity to grow between eight and 10 million seedlings. "This venture illustrates that partnerships between aboriginal communities and the corporate sector are an excellent way of providing business opportunities, expertise, financing, education and training g to the growing aboriginal workforce," Flaherty says. "In addition, corporate partnerships support aboriginal self-reliance, entrepreneurship en·tre·pre·neur n. A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture. [French, from Old French, from entreprendre, to undertake; see enterprise. and the creation of long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. employment, as well as provide, new business opportunities for the private sector." In order to be eligible for the award, partnerships must be located in Ontario and be at least two years old. Additionally, award winners must have either: established a new aboriginal-owned business; increased revenue and growth in one or both entities as a result of the partnership; increased shareholder value; increased employment of aboriginal people; hired or promoted aboriginal people to serve in senior management positions; increased learning/training opportunities for aboriginal people; provided benefits to the aboriginal community; or established innovations in products, services or financial/corporate structures. While neither Bowater nor Weyerhaeuser participates in the financial operations of the tree nursery, both companies have made a commitment to purchase a percentage of their annual seedlings from the facility. "Avenor started (the partnership) before Weyerhaeuser bought the company (in 1998), providing technical expertise, advice and mentoring for the tree nursery," Weyerhaeuser spokesperson Jayne Murray Murray, river, Australia Murray, principal river of Australia, 1,609 mi (2,589 km) long, rising in the Australian Alps, SE New South Wales, and flowing westward to form the New South Wales–Victoria boundary. says. "We also agreed to buy a certain amount of seedlings from the nursery so that they would have a steady customer base. We buy 3.1 million seedlings per year. This year was the first harvest." Weyerhaeuser purchases about 10 million seedlings annually, she says. Similarly, Bowater purchases between one and two million of its 14 million seedlings each year from the Dryden-area nursery, company spokesperson Sue Prodaniuk says. "Bowater's involvement dates back quite a number of years to when the community first wanted to develop a business plan, a strategic plan, and Bowater helped them with that," Prodaniuk says. "We provided consultants, management expertise and that type of thing in order to develop the company." Like Weyerhaeuser, Prodaniuk says Bowater continues to lend its management expertise providing technical, legal and business advice to the tree nursery. Bowater is "always looking" to forge forge Open furnace for heating metal ore and metal for working and forming, or a workshop containing forge hearths and related equipment. From earliest times, smiths (see smithing) heated iron in forges and formed it by hammering on an anvil. new partnerships like this one, Prodaniuk says. |
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