Hay River (Jan 30/06) - A $14 million contract to a Hay River joint venture means 35 jobs for Metis and Tlicho beneficiaries.

Metrow Construction Ltd., jointly owned by the Hay River Metis Development Corp. and Rowe's Construction, won the Public Works contract to do clean-up work at the former Colomac mine site, 212 km northwest of Yellowknife.

"Our business will be acquiring additional equipment for the purpose of this contract. We will probably start in March of this year, expecting to finish the job by April 2007," said Jack Rowe, whose company, Rowe's Construction, has offices in Hay River and Fort Simpson.

Metrow president Terry Camsell co-signed the agreement with David Wasiuta, manager of acquisitions and contractswith Public Works and Services Canada.

"This is an excellent opportunity for employment and training development as well as capacity building," said Camsell.

The contract obtained by Metrow is called a "set-aside" by the federal government. It is defined as a procurement program that Ottawa makes available only to "qualified aboriginal suppliers" under its "Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business."

To qualify, corporations need to have at least 51 per cent aboriginal ownership and control. When the staff comprises six or more employees, 33 per cent must be aboriginal.

"It's a program that helps capacity building by joint ventures by Aboriginal companies. We bid under this program and it's the first time we're successful," Rowe said.

He pointed out that public housing contracts initially provided the joint venture with seed money to really get into business.

"The Set-Aside program, which provides aboriginal suppliers with opportunities on the federal market place will soon be celebrating its 10th anniversary," said Jeff Shechter, senior program manager with Public Works. "In 1997, the number of contracts given to aboriginal businesses was 3,233 for a total amount of $44.5 million. In 2004, the number of contracts was nearly 6,000 for a total amount of $245 million, a sum that is about five times more than in the first year."