Métis business builds success

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This article was published 08/12/2023 (689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Métis Federation has unveiled a slew of offerings for Métis entrepreneurs across Canada.

The Métis government announced Thursday its creation of a business development corporation, business association and procurement advisory service during its largest business conference yet.

“We’ve always been entrepreneurial people,” president David Chartrand told the Free Press.

He’d just addressed a room of entrepreneurs; 270 businesses registered for the event, including 122 companies owned by Red River Métis.

Currently, the federation has 575 Métis businesses in its directory, Chartrand said.

“More and more are coming,” he said. “We’re not forcing them to come. They’ll come when they’re ready to come.”

He hopes the newly formed Red River Métis Business Association will draw 1,000 businesses from across Canada. Member entrepreneurs must have Red River Métis status.

“We’ll be the advocate and the body that will fight for (them),” Chartrand stated. “All spread out, they’re weak, but together and collected, they’re strong.”

The association will receive $150,000 from the MMF as “seed money.” It’ll lobby, provide services — such as website creation for businesses — and host networking events, Chartrand said.

An advisory group from a range of economic sectors will guide the association. Leaders have yet to determine whether the association will charge membership fees, Chartrand said.

He expects the promise of Canada Life benefits will increase membership.

The newly minted Red River Métis Business Development Corp. will administer the association.

The corporation replaces the Métis Economic Development Fund; it holds more than $5.2 million in equity investments and debt financing arrangements.

The prior fund was jointly controlled with the Manitoba government. It was too restrictive, Chartrand stated.

“They weren’t thinking as business people,” he said of the province, adding the fund was limited to equity loans.

Such loans worked for some businesses but were risky and didn’t fit everyone, Chartrand said.

The BDC will allow for more flexibility, Chartrand stated. The federation negotiated with the former Progressive Conservative government to swap to the business development corporation.

The Métis administration has a number of different grant and loan programs, including through Louis Riel Capital Corp.

Through the Métis business association, the MMF will hear organizations’ needs and allocate resources accordingly, Chartrand said.

A procurement officer connecting Métis companies to contracts will come through the business association. The MMF is also launching a procurement advisory service to assist up to 40 companies.

“It’s the small and medium sized (businesses) that make the country run,” Chartrand said.

The federation’s developments and procurements are “really paying off,” he said. It owns Lake Manitoba Resort and the Medocare Pharmacy, among other things.

The federation has also been the recipient of money from several lawsuits, which it says it will funnel back to Métis people.

It’s building several residential suites. Once a 49-unit apartment in Selkirk is complete, the MMF will oversee more than 100 affordable housing spaces, said Brendan Butler, a senior project manager for the federation’s housing department.

“We’re a big economic force, and we want to work with Red River Métis entrepreneurs to help us complete our projects,” Butler stated, sitting at a booth during the conference.

Marc LeClair, an employee with Métis N4 Construction, was scouting electrical contractors and plumbers Thursday.

“We’re trying to grow the Métis business base,” he noted, adding more Métis business are coming online.

Many were “hiding in plain sight” and are getting their Red River Métis status now, LeClair said.

The Centre du patrimoine, which checks people’s genealogies for Métis heritage, is backlogged with requests. Finding out ancestry may take eight to 10 months.

Large companies, including GFL Environmental and M Builds, attended the event. The announcements were made the same day the lieutenant-governor gave royal assent to a bill to designate Louis Riel as Manitoba’s honorary first premier. The timing was a happy coincidence, said Chartrand, who was named to the premier’s business and jobs council as well.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com