Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (June 28/02) - Shane Parrish came to Fort Liard as an economic development officer with the territorial government in 1995.

A year-and-a-half later he signed on with the Acho Dene Koe's development arm, which was undergoing rapid growth as oil and gas exploration intensified in the area.

Shane Parrish, a top executive with the Acho Dene Koe Corporate Group for the past five-and-a-half years, is moving to Calgary this week. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

Parrish, CEO of the ADK Corporate Group, is leaving Fort Liard this week to become an associate with a petroleum consulting company in Calgary. He will be focusing on business development and aboriginal partnerships, and still plans to do consulting work for the ADK Corporate Group.

Q: When you look back on the evolution of the Acho Dene Koe Corporate Group, what do you see as its greatest accomplishments?

A: I think the amount of employment we were able to create. There was a lot of growth in the workforce in terms of how people focus on their work ... people are much more conscious about being ready for work and being safe at work. One of our biggest accomplishments has been the safety programs we've developed.

Q: What about the growing pains? What were the pitfalls the businesses fell into?

A: The objective was to be in charge of what was going on ... but by doing that we also took on a huge amount of work. As a result it caused a lot of growing pains ... The growing pains were mostly financial, making sure that our suppliers were paid, making sure that our payroll was met and making sure that we could continue to make capital acquisitions. It's always, and continues to be, a challenge.

Q: Where have the bulk of the ADK Corporate Group's profits gone?

A: They've been reinvested. Only last year did we start giving a dividend back to the band.

Q: There are those who look at Fort Liard and ask why the streets aren't paved in gold with all the oil and gas work that has taken place. Why isn't there at least a library or a counselling centre sponsored by oil and gas companies, something along those lines?

A: If the band wanted to do that they could. Once the (gas) discoveries were made and production was put on-stream, there were agreements put in place.

Money has been and is being given to the band for a variety of purposes ... the focus is more towards education, support for traditional users of the land and those kinds of things. They haven't chosen to build facilities.

Q: The oil and gas industry has brought plenty of jobs and more disposable income to Fort Liard, but some people argue that social ills have grown in correlation.

You hired a drug-sniffing dog to inspect some of the oil and gas camps earlier this year. What are your thoughts on the social problems?

A: Well, they're there. They were there before oil and gas came, and Fort Liard is not the only place that has them.

I guess the debate is do you wait (to develop lands) or do you go ahead? I think we're better able to deal with (social problems) now than we were before. We have more resources to help address them.

Q: How hard has it been to keep the industry-related jobs filled by band members or even by people within the region?

A: We've fairly consistently had aboriginal, Northern employment between 80 and 85 per cent. We still import about 15 per cent of our workforce from the south.

Q: Some band members have complained that they are generally limited to lower-paying, entry-level jobs while "outsiders" from the south fill too many of the high-paying management positions. How can that change?

A: I think it can change, it will change and it has changed ... through education. Education is where the real focus should be in terms of people getting into the higher management positions.

I think it's frustrating for band members in the slow times, when people are out of work, to have an outsider who's working and you're not, that can become frustrating ... but the worst thing you can do is put somebody who's not ready or not fit for the job in a position that's not good for the business. You've got to have people who have the capacity, have the ability and have the desire. Until then, it just won't work any other way.

Any good business does training. Opportunities for people who want to move up the ladder, the opportunities are there.

We have people who have the capacity to be in higher positions than they are, but they don't want the responsibility. So there's this fallacy that everybody wants to be a manager. It's kind of hard to be a manager when you have to be tough on people and sometimes those people are your brothers, your sisters, your cousins, your uncles. Sometimes it's easier to have an outsider do that.

Q: You mentioned the "slow times." What can the Acho Dene Koe Corporate Group do to create more work in between the seasonal nature of the oil and gas industry?

A: We have to take our show on the road. We can't sit in Fort Liard and expect industry just to come here.

We just started a job in Dawson Creek (B.C.), we've got other work in B.C. We have a very well trained and experienced workforce that can work anywhere ... And there are other areas that have been looked at: logging, tourism, construction.

Q: It's been said that the Acho Dene Koe have opened up nearly all of their lands, that the majority of exploration and development has now been done. Is there truth to that?

A: No. The studies have been done; 38 per cent of the gas on the NWT portion of the band's traditional lands has been discovered.

If you ask me, it was a wise move to open a little bit because now the band has much more information about the land. The band here plans to make sub-surface selections ... basically (they'll) own any petroleum resources or whatever else they might select. It will be more like a comprehensive land claim like we see up in the Inuvialuit.

Q: Some oil and gas related projects around Fort Liard got hung up in the NWT's regulatory red tape. Have you seen any sign of progress in the regulatory process over the years?

A: Well, you can only go up when you start from the bottom. I think yes, things are improving.

Q: Where do you see the ADK Corporate Group headed in the future?

A: I think for a period we'll be levelling off in terms of our activity levels. It could continue to be a $20-$30 million a year company involved in oil and gas and other ventures -- keep getting prepared for when more exploration lands become available.

They (Fort Liard residents) are good people. They come from a line of great warriors. When we're all moving in the same direction when can do amazing things.