Businessman gives back

Hamish Tatty was four years old when his father Peter and aunt Angelina Mercer started M & T Enterprises. He joined the company in 1992 and now the 30-year-old is managing the family business.

When M & T first got started in 1979, the company off-loaded aircraft and made local deliveries, Tatty said. Over the years, the list of services M & T provides has grown to include off-loading baggage and freight from ships and barges, distributing fuel to aircraft, gas stations and residences, gravel hauling, snow removal and providing overland hauling services to mining exploration camps.

"Just about anything that is to be done, we can do it," he said.

His success with M & T has earned Tatty some national recognition, and some international notice as well. Last fall, he received the 2005 Business Development Bank of Canada's Young Entrepreneur Award for Nunavut. And in 2004, he was asked to make a presentation during an Inuit Circumpolar Conference held in Moscow, to share his business expertise with Aboriginal people in Russia who were adapting to operating in a free market economy.

"That was a very exciting experience," Tatty said. "Enjoyable. I got to meet different Aboriginal people there that I'd never met before."

He spoke to them about some of the challenges of running an Aboriginal business. In the case of M & T, he said, one of the biggest is finding employees.

"In a small community it's hard to find employees, good employees that are willing to work the hours that need to be done."

The company employs around 40 people, although that number can increase to as many as 55 during the winter months. About 85 per cent of the company's workforce is Inuit.

Maintaining a high percentage of Aboriginal staff is a priority at M & T, Tatty said. M & T's efforts to employ as many Inuit as possible has provided training and employment opportunities to Inuit people in the greater Rankin Inlet area and has helped the company remain competitive by demonstrating its commitment to the community.

The company also gives back to the community in other ways as well, Tatty said.

"During our anniversaries we'll have carnival-type games here in Rankin, just to give a fun day for the community. This year we're going to be giving out two ATVs."

Tatty's involvement in his community doesn't end with his work at M & T. He is chairman of Sakku Investment Corporation, the business arm of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, and is on the board of directors of the Nunasi Corporation, an Inuit-owned development corporation. For the past five years he has been a member of Rankin Inlet's council, the last two in the role of deputy mayor.

Tatty said he got involved in local politics to bring a youth perspective to the council.

"There's always been older people on the board and they keep on doing stuff the older way and I figure if I can get in there I can start doing stuff for the youth around Rankin."

He's had some success in those efforts, he said, "But there's still a lot of work to be done."

Tatty plans on staying with M & T for a few more years, but thinks he might choose politics over business further down the road.

"I grew up here," he said. "This is my home. So any way I can make my community a lot better to live in and have more people enjoy it as well, that's a big goal of mine."