Daniel MacIsaac and Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 14/99) - Berna Beaulieu said travelling to Iqaluit last week was like travelling back in time.

Originally from Rae-Edzo, Beaulieu runs the Creations by Berna fashion business out of Yellowknife and went to Nunavut as part of Canadian North airlines's Northern Enterprises trade mission program.

"It was just like a step back in time for me -- they didn't have any paved streets and the dirt roads reminded me of old Yellowknife," she said on her return Thursday.

One of 10 business representatives flown free-of-charge to Iqaluit by Canadian to encourage trade in the new territory, Beaulieu said her networking experience also involved an element of time-travel.

One of the contacts she made was with local designer Aaju Peter, whose effort to establish her own business, Akau Furs, reminded Beaulieu of her own fledgling efforts.

"I saw myself in her when I was just starting out," said Beaulieu. "I learned a lot over the last two years -- where to go to get grants -- but she didn't know anything."

Beaulieu called the mission highly successful and said that besides extending her own range of contacts, she found herself in demand by entrepreneurs like Peter looking for advice.

Kelly Kaylo, Canadian North sales and marketing director, said networking is precisely what the airline had in mind in organizing this, its third trade mission.

"Basically, we initiated the program to get Northern people travelling to other communities and exploring economic opportunities," she said at the opening night reception on Monday at Iqaluit's Discovery Inn. "It's a simple equation -- they succeed, we succeed."

Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce president Mike Hine also praised the three-day mission. He said on Thursday that it gave not just new contacts, but also gave contacts the chance to meet in person for the first time.

"It was an opportunity for them to show up, show the flag and show the face behind the call," he said. But worrisome perhaps for the NWT is that representatives of Alberta and Ontario businesses were also on hand in Iqaluit.

"NWT businesses probably have good reason to be concerned because now we're free to deal with who we want to, and businesses in Ottawa and Montreal, for example, are beginning to realize the opportunities for development here," said Hine, adding, "but whatever happens we're not going to lose that East-West connection."

Hine said Daryl Dodds of Sunrise Cabinets and Millwork Ltd. out of Enterprise raised this very issue at the reception.

"He made some very compelling arguments about how it can sometimes be cheaper to buy in the North because you don't have to buy in bulk or get tied up waiting for the sea lift," said Hine.

NWT Finance Minister Charles Dent also dropped in at the reception and congratulated Canadian for its "forward thinking."

On the matter of cross-territorial trade, Dent said, "We have to take advantage of the Northern knowledge we have -- we know how to deal with Northern people and cultures...we have to expand that Northern business."

Meanwhile Beaulieu and Peter said they'd already concluded their first business deal -- albeit more of a swap than a sell. Peter said she so admired Beaulieu's white, lamb-skin dresses that she offered to trade for one, and Beaulieu said she knew just what to ask for in return -- one of Peter's sealskin coats, done up biker-style.