Contributions to economic development recognized

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Mark Wallace Wedge is a man of many interests and talents. He was the chief land claim negotiator for the Carcross/Tagish First Nation in their dealings with both the federal and territorial governments. He is an experienced Tlingit Circlekeeper, and has worked to ensure that Aboriginal values are incorporated into Aboriginal justice systems.

He is also an author, a teacher, a trapper, and a carver. But it was his efforts in the area of economic development that were recognized in Whitehorse recently, when the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) awarded him with the Economic Developer of the Year-Individual Award.

Wedge has been working in the area of economic development since 1984, and has made many contributions to the economic well-being of his home community, the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

Counted among them is his work to create the Yukon Indian Entrepreneur Development Corporation in 1989. That organization in turn formed the foundation for dana Naye Ventures, an Aboriginal-owned and controlled institution based in the Yukon that helps support entrepreneurs and business people across the Yukon and into northern B.C. by providing financing and business advice.

Wedge is chairperson of dana Naye Ventures. He is also president of the Yukon Indian Development Corporation, one of the shareholders in the Northern Aboriginal Services Company (NASCo), a conglomerate of four regional development corporations in the North that work together to maximize cross-territorial business opportunities.

Wedge also serves on the boards of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada, and the First Nation Bank of Canada. He is involved in the Four Mountains Resort project, a proposal to build a $20 million, four-star resort near Carcross. The resort, which would be located about 45 km south of Whitehorse, would boast 120 luxury hotel suites, a cultural centre, amphitheatre and a series of surrounding trails.

Wedge's book is Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community, about how circles can be used in the criminal justice system. The book is co-authored by Barry Stuart, a retired judge who spent much of his career in the Yukon, and Kay Pranis, a former restorative justice planner for the Minnesota department of corrections.

In addition to his current involvements, Wedge has acted as a resource person for the National Roundtable on the Economy and the Environment, and has served on the Western Aboriginal Economic Development Board, and the boards of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association and the National Aboriginal Business Association. He is a past acting director of the Council of Yukon Indians, and held positions on the boards of the Yukon Council on the Economy and the Environment and the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre. He is also a past member of the board of governors of Yukon College.