With the grand reopening of a Melfort gas station by its new owners, the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation, comes hopes of new opportunities and new partnerships for the band.
The DaMar station, located on the corner of Highway #3 and #6, was reopened with great fanfare June 21, National Aboriginal Day. Celebrations featured speeches, bison stew, cake and traditional drumming.
Greg Scott, Kinistin’s chief, said he felt pride and accomplishment – not just for him, but for his community.
“For me, it’s about trying to open up the opportunities outside of the community; to show that we can contribute, that we are a part of our surrounding communities; that we do want to be contributing members; and we do want to move forward,” he said. “This is one step towards it.”
Finding opportunity
The grand reopening was the result of relationship building between Kinistin and the City of Melfort.
Scott said his community was looking for ways to generate revenue so that they could work towards financial independence and provide the services they desire. They approached Melfort to find out if there were opportunities and what the willingness to work with a First Nation was like.
Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor, said at those first meetings, the city and its economic development department promised to work with Kinistin to find that opportunity.
“From there, it just evolved into a few more meetings down the road. Things got more serious,” he said. “We still didn’t know exactly what the venture was going to be, but we were looking in all different areas, as far as our economic development people went, with respect to what might work with them and what might work for us.”
“Out of that, DaMar came up, as an existing business for sale,” Scott said.
The band decided to proceed and over a period of almost two years, a deal was hammered out. On Dec. 19, 2016, the deal was closed.
“We see it as a win-win, both for our community and for the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation,” Lang said.
Wellness Centre co-operation
The DaMar was only the beginning of the relationship between the communities.
“One of the most important things for me is relationship building, partnerships,” Scott said. “We’ve always been in the surrounding communities but we’ve never really been partners with them.”
That’s why Scott was honoured when Melfort asked Kinistin if they wanted to contribute to the construction of the new Wellness Centre – something that hadn’t happened before. The chief said it made sense to contribute, as his citizens are using those services, just as long as there was some acknowledgement of the First Nation in the building.
“It’s just a start in the partnership that I want to strengthen and enhance to show that we can work together,” he said.
Lang said the Wellness Centre is a partnership between the city and surrounding communities, which Kinistin is one of.
“It was just natural that we would look at Kinistin Saulteaux First Nation as a surrounding community and so we extended the offer to them, the same as we have everyone else and they graciously accepted.”
Becoming visible
Kinistin is working to change its image, both inside and outside of its community.
“For me, as the leader, that’s one of the biggest challenges I face, is changing the stereotypes, that we aren’t just taking, taking, taking, or don’t pay taxes,” Scott said. “Business is business; it shouldn’t have no colour.”
That’s why the community is becoming more visible. Earlier this year, it held a bison raffle and donated some of the proceeds to the Tisdale branch of the Salvation Army. Scott said the idea is to show that the band doesn’t just take – it gives back.
There’s also the Kinistin Business Club. Through it, high school-aged youth have developed two businesses: a catering service – developed because there were not a lot of caterers near Kinistin, and a t-shirt business.
“We’re really putting a push on that recognition and really trying to raise that profile through positive ventures in our organization,” Scott said.
The chief said he was also working to improve pride in the community and finding ways to move forward while respecting their culture and traditions.
The future
As for the future, Kinistin plans to chase after other opportunities.
“There’s many other opportunities out there that we’re looking at but,” he said, “it takes planning and you have to develop partnerships to be successful.”
The beginning of those partnerships includes feeling out how well a potential partner would work with a First Nation.
Some of those opportunities might be in the City of Melfort. Lang said his community was willing to work with Kinistin if they choose to do so.
