Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 05/99) - The Bank of Montreal has partnered with the Deline Land and Financial Corporation to open a new banking facility in the Sahtu community, the lender said.

The new facility, located in the band office, will be managed by the Deline Dene Band.

The bank and band chose Canada Day to officially celebrate the new community branch.

Ron Jamieson, Bank of Montreal senior vice-president, aboriginal banking, said similar banking centres are being considered for other Northern communities.

The Bank of Montreal is in discussion with Fort Liard, to set up a community branch similar to the one now operating in Deline, Jamieson said.

"We are in discussions with a number of other NWT and Nunavut communities," he said.

Setting up bank operations in many of the North's communities can be costly but adds Jamieson, if it is done with the community's participation it is possible.

"I think the prospects are very bright," he said.

"We are extremely pleased to have Bank of Montreal provide financial services to the community through a local branch, something we have been working on for a while now," Deline Dene Band Chief Raymond Taniton said.

As well as convenient access to banking services, Taniton said with the new branch, "opportunities for increased economic development should also occur."

Bank of Montreal operates a similar service in the remote Labrador community of Nain.

The new Deline branch has one full-time employee who trained at the bank's Yellowknife branch.

The Deline branch's fee schedule is the same as with the lender's other branches, Jamieson said.

Across Canada, Bank of Montreal has opened 16 branches to serve aboriginal communities, of which 11 branches are located on First Nation territory.