Paula White
Northern News Services

INUVIK (July 16/99) - Chii Construction is branching out.

The company has recently begun producing quality, wood products using some traditional knowledge and a lot of home-grown materials.

"What we're trying to do is build things that people can use in the community," explained James Firth, chief of the Inuvik Native Band which, through its development corporation, operates Chii Construction. "We think it's an investment, maybe, that we can look at long-term."

Some of the products include picnic tables, blocking for houses, fenceposts, sheds and siding for buildings. The company has been making siding for the past few years, along with a few other products, but the picnic tables, for example, are brand new. They are made from quality wood -- the seats and table are actually halved logs, which means they are much sturdier than the typical picnic tables, not to mention more attractive.

"We just started doing these tables...it takes about three days (to build one)," Firth said. "This thing will last forever."

Another product the company may start to produce is snowmobile toboggans. A couple of years ago, the company made about six and judging by their popularity at that time, Firth believes they could become a hot product. He said constructing the toboggans involves bending wood, a process that elders are experts at. The elders, he added, can pass this knowledge down to young people interested in becoming involved in the woodworking business.

Some of the material used in making the products, such as the sheds, comes from Grollier Hall. Anything that doesn't come from Grollier Hall, however, is made out of trees cut in the Delta region. In other words, none of the wood comes from down south. Firth said why buy lumber from down south when the region can use its own resources.

This venture could also benefit the community in the form of employment. Firth said it creates work for people who cut the trees, for people who cut the wood and for people who use the wood to build products.

"I think it's something positive that a native group is trying to do for themselves," he commented. "We've made an investment and we hope to make a return on it."

Whether the return be through sales of the products or whether it be through creating a future for young people, Firth said either would be a bonus.

"Over the summer we may train a youngster who may want to do something like this (in the future)," he said. "The option is there for them now."