Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 17/02) - The Gwich'in Development Corporation gave a presentation to the Inuvik Native Band last Saturday that inspired something the GDC has never heard before -- applause.

Ernest Firth (left) and Tom Connors of the Gwich'in Development Corporation presented the company's financial report to the Inuvik Native Band's mini-assembly. The GDC showed a healthy profit and received applause from the assembly. - Terry Halifax/NNSL photo

The GDC has shown a profit in all of its ventures for this year, turning around a corporation that was plagued with deficit for years.

President and CEO Tom Connors reported an $8.8 million profit this year -- nearly doubling the $4.8 million from last year.

Connors said the corporation is cashing in on the economic boom with trucking contracts and construction, but also having a staff responsible for just the GDC has made a big difference.

"Before, there was no dedicated manager and nobody was really watching the bottom line and nobody was bidding competitively," Connors said.

Connors said the GDC has focused on doing a few things and doing them well. Gwich'in Properties, GDC Civil Construction, GDC Contracting Services have all shown profits and growth over the past year.

GDC chair Ernest Firth says while some of the credit goes to the increased economic activity here, he says there is a new attitude at the corporation.

"We have people focused on doing business -- we didn't wait for the work to come to us," Firth said.

Some tough and not very popular decisions were made at the GDC regarding staffing, but Firth says some house cleaning was in order and the politics were pushed aside to make way for business.

"We made a couple of unpopular decisions, but if you're not prepared to do that, you shouldn't be in business," Firth said.

"We bit the bullet.

"You can't be a politician and do a multi-million job, on a part-time basis," he said.