Gwich'in development corporation to stand on its own
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Dec 08/00) - Plans are under way to make the Gwich'in development corporation stand on its own.
Fred Carmichael, president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC), spearheaded a motion at the council's recent annual general assembly to hire a general manager to run the corporation.
Carmichael said that the corporation will have a separate board of directors, comprised of business people, and will move to another location.
The president said the manager will be hired early in the new year, and that the corporation has a new temporary home.
Carmichael said these changes will make the corporation stronger.
"It will run like a business, with no political interference," he said.
"You know, when a political organization's trying to run a business, it's difficult. This way it's a general manager that runs the business, and he reports to a board of directors of business people, not politicians," Carmichael said.
"They're still responsible in the end to the tribal council, they give quarterly reports or whatever."
The council also plans to hire an economic development officer, who will assist the GTC and the development corporation, as well as Gwich'in business people.
Carmichael, who assumed his position early last month, said he considers economic development is important because people have been asking for payouts from the land claim.
"There's no way we can do that within the land claim itself. There is no money to say, pay $500 to every beneficiary in the country each year, there's no provision."
Carmichael said if the development corporation is more successful, some kind of dividend might be possible. More economic development would also employ more Gwich'in and provide job training.
The president said since assuming the reins he's attended a lot of meetings and has been quite busy trying to set a direction for the year ahead.
"It's still kind of early for us to say too much at this point. There is a lot going on," Carmichael said.
"Generally, I'm happy with the cooperation I'm getting from all the communities and the chiefs and my board. It's working very well."
