Fort Chip gets birthday gift, long deserved recognition

Page 6

Editorial

Not long ago Fort Chipewyan was looked upon by bureaucrats as being somewhere at the other end of the earth.

As the longest continuously-standing settlement in Alberta, the community became a focal point for the fur trade which did a booming business 200 years ago. To this day, it is one of the few remaining communities to uphold traditional hunting and trapping lifestyles.

Because Fort Chip is a remote fly-in community, it showed little economic promise and never did receive much attention from anyone, in particular the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Nevertheless, life continued in the tiny bush community. Things didn't change much and nothing newsworthy ever seemed to occur.

But, in the space of a mere decade, the community has rocketed from obscurity to prominence. Who would have ever thought that this miniscule dot on the map would ever amount to anything?

Even Indian Affairs, with its barrels of money for economic development, lacked the perception that here was a community which, given the tools and opportunity, could build its own road to success.

The eventual turn about, once it came, did not result from efforts of the dominant society, rather, it stemmed from the visions and beliefs of community people who believed they could move forward on their own.

With fewer people living off the land and more relying on social assistance, a gloomy future loomed. But, Indians are survivors and have been for thousands of years, even with their faces to the wind.

Fort Chipewyan consists of a mixed population of Cree and Chipewyan Indians, Metis and whites. Once the community employed only a handful of people; many are now gainfully employed with the Indian bands, the school, the health centre, airport, government agencies and so on.

The Cree band itself is a major shareholder in several business enterprise which employ people. Neegan Developments, a heavy equipment company, hires a dozen or more Cree. Three or four each are employed with Cree-Chip Development Corp., Cree Band Marine Ltd., Mistee Seepee Wilderness Tours Ltd., the drop-in centre and the nursing station. A few others work for the school, Alberta Transport and the airport, while a dozen more work out of the Cree band office. Once the granite mine is operational, several more positions will be created, not to mention potential spin-off employment.

Finally, after all those years of neglect, government and outside world is sitting up to take notice, and for good reason.

Happy bicentennial Fort Chipewyan!