THUNDER BAY — Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum is looking to entrepreneurship to help secure the financial future of the First Nation.
Bay Meats and Cav-Tal Foods, two companies now owned by Marten Falls First Nation, have amalgamated, and Achneepineskum recently spoke at the grand opening of a new centralized location for the business.
“Marten Falls takes a stance that economic development and economic reconciliation is extremely important for First Nations, including our community,” said Achneepineskum.
“We're looking for our own source revenue in these ventures and we took a look at these companies before investing, and they seem very stable and very promising companies to invest in.
“We just took the leap of faith and invested and are moving forward with good management, good planning and plans for expansion,” he said.
Achneepineskum said Marten Falls First Nation’s membership is close to 900.
“Two thirds live off reserve, mainly in Thunder Bay and in the region and all over the place.
“Being part of the business community, for the First Nation, is extremely important. We'll give back to the community in terms of not so much yet, but in the future dividends to the community for own source revenues.
“It's a start for us. Economic development is one way to go to raise revenues for our community and we want to expand on that,” he said.
Achneepineskum said the grand opening on Thursday was a really exciting day, as the team has been working on the plans for a while.
“Bay Meats offers top quality food products that we sell to the local stores in the area. (Shoppers) can find top quality foods, meats, but also other canned goods, dry goods, all sorts of other products that we're expanding to,” he said.
