SIGA cited for good corporate citizenship

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The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, known everywhere by its acronym SIGA, took one of the four nominations for this year's CANDO Economic Developer of the Year award.

"We were very pleased and honored to be nominated for the CANDO Economic Developer of the Year award. We'd also like to thank our nominator the Saskatoon Tribal Council for recognizing our contributions to First Nations economic development in Saskatchewan," said Vance McNab, vice president of marketing for SIGA.

The gaming authority operates four casinos owned by Saskatchewan First Nations: the Gold Eagle Casino in North Battleford; Bear Claw Casino in White Bear, Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton and the Northern Lights Casino in Prince Albert.

Not only is SIGA the first gaming operation to negotiate a gaming agreement with a provincial government in this country, but it is the first to share profits with all Saskatchewan First Nations.

On Feb. 10, 1995, after extensive negotiations with the province's First Nations, the First Nations Gaming Act was proclaimed and the regulatory and managerial framework put in place for the casinos.

The FSIN chiefs in assembly then created SIGA to manage and operate the casino business.

Today, SIGA employs 1,100 people, of which the majority, 70 per cent, are Aboriginal people.

SIGA has a history of receiving awards for its accomplishments, but its greatest achievement is arguably its commitment to community involvement and to staff training.

Darrel Balkwill, a member of the Saskatchewan Tribal Council and a CANDO board member, nominated SIGA not only because it is a successful economic venture, but because "I think they are unique in the country.

"I'm not aware of any other gaming agreement like the one they operate under in Saskatchewan, anywhere else in the country, as far as First Nations-operated casinos go," he said. "I think there's a couple of others in the country, but not to the size and extent that SIGA is."

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He pointed to SIGA's track record since 1995 of employment and profitability.

"I think they are actually the largest single employer of First Nations people in the province . . . so they are a significant contributor to employment for First Nations people."

On the profitability side, Balkwill said that in the fiscal 2000/2001 period he believes SIGA's net profit was in the neighborhood of $17 million.

Added to that is their history of contributing back to the communities where the casinos are situated. In Prince Albert, North Battleford and Yorkton, the casinos are situated in an urban setting.

"In all of those cases, I think they've got a real good working relationship with the local community, and they provide sponsorships and donations to local causes in those communities, and causes outside those communities.

"One that comes to mind as an example of an Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal partnership that they've created . . . is in Yorkton . . . they made a contribution to a local marching band that allowed them to participate in the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California."

Because they contribute to events and organizations that help develop the communities SIGA operates in, "there's benefits, not only for First Nations people in employment and in the profit-sharing arrangement, but also there's community development benefits," Balkwill added.

Balkwill said another factor in his decision to nominate SIGA, that caused him "some concern, but it was also part of the reason for nominating them," was that they have recently overcome some "management issues."

He said that more than a year ago, some issues came out "about mismanagement, I guess you could call it, within the SIGA head office. Overspending, and things like that. That was a real difficult time for them."

Since then, however, SIGA "met the challenge" of satisfying government requirements for change in the areas of auditing, policy and management, said Balkwill. As of July this year, they "turned things around" and are now more acountable to both government and the First Nations communities.

A video shown at the CANDO conference highlighted the support the casinos have from local community leaders. SIGA was praised for increasing employment and bringing tourism dollars from near and far to hotels, restaurants and retail establishments.

Profits from the casinos go to the provincial government (37.5 per cent); the First Nations Fund (37.5 per cent); and the remaining 25 per cent are directed to community initiatives.

Out of its share, the First Nations Fund allocates a portion to deal with gaming addictions programming in conjunction with a provincial contribution. The balance of the profit in the First Nations Fund goes to all Saskatchewan First Nations on a quarterly basis for community development.

Last year, the gaming operation received two Tourism Saskatchewan awards, one for its commitment to intensive education and training and another for its commitment to training and growth that was reflected in a 40 per cent sales increase in the previous three years.

Big work for a small staff

Windspeaker Staff

The Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Interior First Nations (CFDCCIFN) is a long name for an organization with a long arm when it comes to assisting Aboriginal people towards economic self-sufficiency. That's why it was one of the nominees for CANDO's Economic Developer of the Year award.

The organization is inclusive of all people of Aboriginal ancestry, whether First Nations, Metis or non-status, within the Thompson-Shuswap-Nicola-Fraser Canyon-Lillooet area. They reach out to five tribal councils, 32 bands, 67 Aboriginal agencies and organizations, and 15 cities, towns and villages.

Larry Casper, the corporation's chairman, expressed his thanks at the awards for their nomination by the Collaborative Visions Society, a group of 46 representatives from among all the above clients.

Casper's Community Futures branch is one of three Aboriginal-specific Community utures groups out of 37 in British Columbia. He said they are challenged to customize and deliver the government-mandated program to many diverse nations and entrepreneurs over a huge geographic area.

Their most notable innovation is getting community based micro-lending circles up and running.

The reason they are successful, Casper said, is their eight-point focus:

? Board members bring an apolitical and collective approach to meetings and decision-making;

? Board volunteers develop trust, reliance and close communication with their staff, that includes regular meetings and sharing lunch at those meetings;

? They support and facilitate community economic development, and only go into communities by invitation;

? Community Futures staff is drawn and developed from within their own communities and are trained to provide a number of services in representing the organization;

? The organization strives to provide complete services to entrepreneurs, from pre-entrepreneurial training to follow-up assistance;

? Community Futures staff have a hand in designing and developing customized programs, such as the micro-lending circle program, that fully involves the community and builds capacity after they leave.

? They focus on youth, and currently have 268 First Nations youth graduating from the pre-entrepreneurial program. That represents 96 per cent of the original enrollment.

? Finally, they are involved in numerous other strategic partnerships and have implemented organizations that include Aboriginal apprenticeship, trades and training initiatives.

Among their other achievements, Community Futures can point to 19 First Nation and Inuit youth business program loans or equity contributions, and 32 community-based micro-lending circle loans. Since they made their first loan in 1993 to a janitorial service company that now employs 30-plus people, 265 loans have been administered.

Small business management training has been provided to 246 people in communities suchas Kamloops, Merritt, Whitehorse and Cache Creek.

They do all this with eight full-time staff, one part-time person and a contract bookkeeper, said Geri Collins, general manager. Among them the tasks are divided into lending, training and economic development work within the communities.

Although Native people will "quite often participate in the bigger picture," said Collins, "some of the unique input kind of gets lost in the shuffle," regarding distinctly Native economic development issues, and that's what they are trying to overcome.

She said one of the things that typically does not get addressed is the high population of young people. She cited the example of the Lilloot band where one-third of their population is under age 19.

"We really need opportunities for human resource development to encourage these young people to take some form of trade or education and to be given employment opportunities."

She said not long ago there was a forum in Kamloops talking about skills shortages where they concluded there is a need to encourage immigration because the labor force is dwindling. Collins said if she went into such a forum with 40 other people and raised awareness of their needs to provide training and employment opportunities to Native people, "it might get written down somewhere, but it wouldn't get a focus, because the differences are so very different."

Another of their challenges is that for every 1,000 women of child-bearing age in Aboriginal communities, there are approximately 500 children under the age of five years, "which is way higher than the national average."

Daycare issues, income issues, parenting concerns and government rules for First Nations are among the obstacles that Community Futures takes into account.

Herb Dunlop is a non-Native economic development specialist, who prior to coming to Community Futures four years ago, worked in a traditional lending system at the Bank of Montreal. He shares the responsibility for lending with hi