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Northern Development Agreement funds six projects

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Backgrounder

Canada-Saskatchewan Northern Development Agreement

The Canada-Saskatchewan Northern Development Agreement (NDA) is providing $20 million over five years (2002 to 2007) for a variety of northern economic development initiatives. Just over $8.6 million has been announced to date to support 28 projects. In addition to a broad range of training and employment programs, the Agreement has invested in a Forestry Career Centre and an expansion of high-speed Internet service to more than 35 northern communities.

Projects:

• The North East Development Association (NEDA) will undertake a $240,000 drilling and exploration program to determine if there is a quarry deposit of green granite in the Pelican Narrows area. The project, Phase 1 of potentially three phases, will be managed by Gracom Masonry (a division of the Graham construction group), and will be complete this fall. If a fracture-free deposit is confirmed, it could lead to a second phase (extracting quarry-size blocks for evaluation) and then a third phase (establishing a quarry). Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) and the Government of Saskatchewan are each providing $92,500 in NDA funding, Gracom Masonry will contribute $45,000, and NEDA will invest $10,000.
  
• The Central Cree Economic Development Corporation will provide a 40-hour oilfield safety-training course at the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. The course would provide a base level of training for 20 participants who would then be employable with northern mines and/or the oilfields of Alberta. Job Source Canada, headquartered in Saskatoon, would deliver the course; it has operated similar programs, including one in Beauval. The province will cover then entire project cost of $10,438.
• Northlands College will broker the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies to continue First Nations childcare training in Pinehouse at a cost of $145,964. Last year, the NDA funded a similar program from which 11 students graduated; 18 seats are available in this year’s program. Provincial laws require that a certain percentage of childcare workers in any location obtain higher certification, which this program will offer. WD and the Government of Saskatchewan will each provide $37,500 in NDA funding. Northlands College will contribute $70,964 from its Saskatchewan Skills Extension Program.
  
• Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership proposes a $33,000 research project into the medicinal potential of chaga, a fungus that grows on birch trees. Research into chaga to date has centred on its folk uses, and suggests it may have cancer-fighting properties. This study will further investigate these properties, as well as the commercial viability of harvesting chaga: inventory, stand characteristics, growth and regeneration rate, and proper harvesting methods. The Province will provide $12,000 through the NDA to this project, while another $21,000 will be contributed largely “in kind” by Saskatchewan Agriculture & Food ($5,000), University of Saskatchewan ($3,000), Natural Resources Canada through its Canadian Forest Service ($3,000), Lone Wolf Plant & Herb Farm ($8,000, plus $1,000 in kind), and Kitsaki ($1,000).
  
• The Creighton Regional Development Corporation (CRDC) will undertake a fish management plan to determine the size of stocks of burbot in four lakes in northeast Saskatchewan. The CRDC is considering a commercial operation to extract nutritional oil from burbot fish livers in the Creighton area. The CRDC will hire the biotechnological firm Arbokem Inc. of Vancouver, B.C. to study the fish stock levels. If sufficient stock exists, Phase 2 of the project would research the nutritional characteristics of burbot liver oil and how to extract it and encapsulate it. The study will also identify specific market opportunities for not only the oil, but also the rest of the fish as fillets and fertilizer. Burbot liver oil is potentially a substitute for cod liver oil, widely used in Europe but now difficult to come by because of low cod stocks in the Atlantic fishery. The province will cover the entire $24,012 cost of the fish management plan.
  
• The Saskatchewan Tourism Education Council will provide a “Tourism Careers: Ready to Work program” in La Ronge, training northerners in food preparation and serving in the tourism industry. The first step is the recruitment of employers willing to hire course participants as new hires, not temporary employees. Twenty participants then undertake eight weeks of training, and then four more weeks of skill-specific, on-the-job experience. Finally, STEC monitors and mentors the trainees’ progress through the next 20 weeks on the job with the participating employers. Projects are also being proposed for Beauval, Stony Rapids and Creighton. STEC will work with the communities to determine what occupational training is required. WD and the Government of Saskatchewan will each provide $133,188 in NDA funding; Service Canada is contributing $276,135; First Nations groups will provide $98,400; and the Can-Sask Career and Employment Centre will contribute $123,600. Total project spending will be $764,511.

Administration of the federal-provincial Northern Development Agreement is unique in Canada. Northern organizations are invited to submit proposals that meet one or more of five strategic priorities of the NDA:

• Economic infrastructure: projects that support major new economic initiatives with significant benefit to Northerners;
  
• Innovation: projects that could lead to new discoveries, new products or new services in northern Saskatchewan;
  
• Realizing Employment Opportunities: initiatives that will help Northerners to take advantage of employment opportunities, with emphasis on the needs of northern youth;
  
• Capacity Building: support for organizations that will enhance the capacity of Northerners and their organizations to be self-sufficient; and,
  
• Investment Attraction: efforts taken to identify, research and promote specific investment opportunities in northern Saskatchewan, particularly value added industries.

Project proposals are accepted on an ongoing basis for funding consideration under the NDA.

The Northern Development Board Corporation and the Canada-Saskatchewan Northern Development Agreement were both established as implementation mechanisms in support of Saskatchewan’s Northern Strategy. The Strategy includes common goals and objectives adopted by NDB members and the provincial government in support of social and economic development in northern Saskatchewan.

The Northern Development Board Corporation includes representation from the Saskatchewan Association of Northern Communities, representing northern municipal governments; the Métis Nation – Saskatchewan; the Prince Albert Grand Council and Meadow Lake Tribal Council, representing northern First Nations; and the Athabasca Economic Development and Training Corporation.

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