THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - Don Jaque has a unique explanation about why he is back at the helm of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce, an organization he led for several years in the 1980s.

His return to leadership was prompted by a diagnosis of cancer.

Don Jaque is back at the helm of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Jaque, 59, sees the chamber as a vehicle to accomplish some of his goals in life.

The chamber had been stagnant for a number of years. Its membership had fallen to about 40 members compared to a high of 150 or so in the past.

Jaque, a businessman best known as publisher of The Slave River Journal newspaper, has plans to reinvigorate the organization.

He talked with News/North on June 24.

News/North: What drove you to take this on in addition to running your own business?

Don Jaque: I got diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago. That was kind of an epiphany in my life. When I was first diagnosed, I was told that it could be a number of different cancers and (because of) some of them I could have had three months to live. So I stopped and looked at my life and I said, well, I've got a lot of skills and abilities and I can make a difference where I can accomplish some things. So this whole thing with the chamber of commerce is one of the things I can do.

N/N: As a result of your diagnosis, what did you add to your to-do list?

D.J.: I would like to see a change in the way people think in the North - and in Canada generally - but particularly in the North, in terms of development. There's a focus on development for development's sake, and the people get lost in the shuffle.

N/N: Why do you want to see the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce become a vital part of the community again?

D.J.: The business community needs a voice. But frankly I got involved with it because I wanted an opportunity to make some other changes. I have an agenda .... in particular, the economy of Fort Smith needs a boost, and I think there's vast potential there that is not materializing.

What we really need is strong community leadership. What I'm doing in that effort is to work closely with the mayor, with the MLA and with the aboriginal leaders and try to get some things going and try to capitalize on some of the economic activities that are around us.

N/N: How many members does the chamber have now?

D.J.: We're actively seeking new members. I think we have close to 40. My strength, and it's sort of a special skill that I have, is to marshal resources and take an organization and connect the dots and make it work. I've done that before with things in the community.

I did that with the museum that was dead on the water, as well. I brought it back to life. It's just something that I can do and I do it well. I saw that opportunity with the chamber. But for me the chamber is just a conduit, it's a mechanism to accomplish a bunch of other things that are also wanting that I really felt that I could inject some new energy and some new life into and benefit our community.

N/N: Is the first step getting more businesses involved?

D.J.: No, absolutely not. It's the opposite of that .... I want to grow the organization gradually and what I don't want to do is spend a lot of time spinning my wheels trying to foster an organization. The structure is there to accomplish things already. All it needs is someone to press the buttons to get them to go.

So I've done a number of significant things .... I'm applying right now to hire a consultant to do an economic analysis of all the projects that are pending that the community can benefit from to determine how we can best optimize our benefits from those projects. I've taken the chamber's headquarters, the old visitor information centre, and I've approached the bands and other organizations to see if they would hold cultural activities, camps and clinics there so that we can have people in there so we can bring it to life and have attractions that visitors to Fort Smith can come and see and appreciate.

This is what I do well. I find things that are kind of stagnant and I connect the dots and I get them to go. It's like fixing an old motor and making it work again.

N/N: How important is it to increase the number of members in the chamber?

D.J.: In order to increase the membership, you have to prove that you're worth getting involved. In my view, I have to show results and people will buy in once that happens. So that's what we're doing. One of the things, for example, is we're creating a sign on the highway, a 'Welcome to Fort Smith' sign with a listing of all of the different businesses.

I've gone out and I've sold that. So we're putting up probably a $10,000 welcome sign and it's going to be a wonderful introduction to people who are driving into this town.

N/N: Do you think as president of the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce you're going to have any impact on government policy?

D.J.: We're going to start to make some changes happen here. We're going to be a catalyst. We're going to be a force. But we're not going to be a force on our own .... We're going to be a force in Fort Smith by working together with other leaders.