Aboriginal companies show wares at trade fair

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Nine Aboriginal companies from across Canada got a chance to promote their products internationally during a trade fair for the food and beverage sector held in Montreal.

The companies were part of an Aboriginal pavilion at the SIAL (Salon International de l'alimentation) Montreal trade show held March 4 to 6 at the Palais des Congrés de Montréal.

This is the first time an Aboriginal pavilion has been part of the international trade fair, and the first time a SIAL event has been held in Canada.

SIAL trade fairs have been held in Paris every two years since 1964. Since 1997, other international trade fairs for the food and beverage industry have been held in other locations around the world under the SIAL banner. Montreal SIAL is the latest addition, joining Buenos Aires, Singapore and Peking.

SIAL Montreal was held in partnership with the ADA (Association des détaillants en alimentation du Québec) and the Club Export Agro-Alimentaire du Québec, with support from the Quebec provincial government and a number of federal government departments, including the Aboriginal Business Canada arm of Industry Canada.

The Aboriginal pavilion at SIAL Montreal was co-ordinated by the First People's Business Association, a Quebec-based association that works to promote business opportunities for Canadian Aboriginal companies.

Participants in the Aboriginal pavilion included Aliments Toka Foods from Wendake, Que., Bluets Mistassini Ltée from Mistassini, Que., Iroquois Cranberry Growers from Bala, Ont., Kagiwiosa Manomin Inc. from Dinorwic, Ont., Keewatin Meat & Fish, Ltd. from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Kitsaki Meats Limited Partnership from La Ronge, Sask., Les Tisanes du Nunavik from Montreal, Que., Little Miss Chief Gourmet Products, Inc., from Westbank, B.C., and Nunavik Arctic Foods, Inc., from Saint-Laurent, Que.

Aliments Toka Foods is a relatively young company founded in 2000 and owned by Henry Picard. The company produces 24 agri-food products.

Bluets Mistasini Ltée is a family run business founded in 1980, which gathers, processes and sells blueberries. About 90 per cent of the company's sales are exports, with sales to 17 countries around the world.

Iroquois Cranberry Growers, owned and operated by the Wahta Mohawks, has been in business since 1968. The company grows, harvests, and processes cranberries and cranberry products, with sales in Canada, and to the U.S. and Europe.

Kagiwiosa Manomin Inc. is run by an Ojibway owned and operated cooperative at Wabigoon Lake and specializes in the production of wild rice. The rice is grown using traditional methods without chemicals or fertilizers. The company is currently marketing its product within Canada, as well as to the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Keewatin Meat & Fish, Ltd., owned by the Nunavut Development Corporation, produces wild caribou meat.

Kitsaki Meats Limited Partnership is owned by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. The company produces dried meat snacks and organic wild rice. The rice is marketed throughout Canada, Europe and the U.S., while the beef jerkey is marketed across Canada and in Japan.

Les Tisanes du Nunavik, owned by the Avataq Cultural Institute, markets traditional Inuit herbs and specialty teas in North America.

Little Miss Chief Gourmet Products, Inc. has been operating since 1996 and sells smoked Pacific salmon to customers in the U.S. and Spain.

Nunavik Arctic Foods, Inc. has been operating since 1994 as a subsiduary of the Makivik Corporation, owned by the Inuit of Nunavik. The largest company of its kind in North America, Nunavik Arctic Foods specializes in production and distribution of caribou meat.

Celine Tremblay is export coordinator with the First People's Business Association. She said the companies featured in the Aboriginal pavilion at SIAL Montreal were well received by trade fair participants, with all nine businesses making new contacts, and a few sales as well.

The next edition of SIAL Montreal is scheduled for 2003. Trembly said the association hopes another Aboriginal pavilion will be part of that event as well.

"It was very good for our companies, and we want to do it again," she said.

The trade fair was good not only for the nine companies involved, but for all Aboriginal companies, showing the world what Aboriginal entrepreneurs are capable of, explained Joanne Spanton, manager of program relations with Aboriginal Business Canada.

"Those specific companies were there, and it was good for their business, but they represented the whole range of companies-Aboriginal firms-that are involved in the food sector and involved in exporting, and it was a good reflection of the growing business capability of Aboriginal firms. To be on a world stage like that, to be able to successfully participate and do business," Spanton said.

"That's where we get excited about the results is, in addition to the individual results, it really demonstrates a growing entrepreneurship and a growing capability in the marketplace by Aboriginal firms."