Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 10/99) - The recent visit by NWT Development Corporation president Fred Koe and the board of directors has been hailed as a success by Beaufort Delta representatives.

The eight-member board came North and dropped into their subsidiaries in Tuktoyaktuk and Fort McPherson two weeks ago and also staged a meeting and small public reception in Inuvik.

"The purpose of the field trip was to provide an education, orientation and familiarization to our new board, appointed last spring," said chair Dan McNeely from Norman Wells.

Koe came aboard as Dev Corp president and CEO last year, at a time when minister Stephen Kakfwi was facing criticism in the legislature for the corporation's inability to fill its board and provide certain financial information to auditors.

But the board has since been filled, and the new directors -- like Ernie Smith from Rae-Edzo, Liz Wyman from Yellowknife, Denise Yuhas from Fort Smith and Inuvik's Harry Elias -- assured that operations are up and running smoothly.

"We were cut back severely in funding and we're doing good with what we have," said Yuhas, "but we won't say there's no money available if a good project comes along ... we'll find a way."

Wyman said the corporation receives scores of proposals, and has to judge them based on criteria that includes whether the businesses will show a return in a three-year period and how much employment will be created.

While in the region the board stopped in and spoke to Greg and Joanne Toner, managers of the corporation-owned Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas company. Greg Toner described the meeting as productive.

"I think the perception people should have up here is that the Dev Corp is interested in the region," he said. "The meeting was a good opportunity to talk business with them, and a lot of the locals dropped over to speak with them, too."

Toner said he's worked for Tent and Canvas for 10 years and employs 16 people and that the recent visit was the first by the corporation board.

While chairman McNeely said the board didn't make it to Aklavik on this trip, he said they did get up to Tuktoyaktuk to speak to Aurora College officials about an interesting proposal.

Andrea Johnson is the instructor for the fur-garment program there and said the students actually work in the Dev Corp-owned Tuk Fur Shop building on campus and talked expansion with the board.

"I think the board was impressed with the facilities and with the women involved in the program," she said. "They talked to the students about how they feel about going into production and turning the facility into a business. This is the potential future of the program."

Johnson said the 10 students -- involved in the three-year program that covers sewing with industry-related mathematics, marketing and computer design -- reacted positively to the idea.

She said they already produce commercial products for events like the Inuvik Christmas Craft Fair and have Christmas shops now open in both Tuk and Aklavik.