Adams Lake Band Moving Ahead With Business Venture to Provide Value-Added Manufacturing

According to Penticton Western News, the Adams Lake Indian Band, a member of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, is moving ahead with a business venture to sustain forests while providing value-added manufacturing and long-term employment.

The Band’s Title and Rights and Natural Resource Director Dave Norquist told Penticton Western News, “We’re hoping to start it small, keep it simple, and build from there.”

According to Nordquist, it all began with a small business in Enderby that created door and window shims but was having trouble sourcing cedar. Nordquist knew Greg Smith, with Gilbert Smith Forest products, who also had a contract at Woodtone Specialties (WSI), which was experiencing a worker shortage in one part of their operations.

This eventually led to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Adams Lake Band, Gilbert Smith Forest Products, a primary lumber manufacturer, and Woodtone Specialties, a secondary re-manufacturer.

Additional good news came from the BC provincial government’s Rural Economic Diversification and infrastructure program, a new program launched by the BC Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation (JEDI). According to the report, the Adams Lake Band was successful in its application, receiving the maximum grant of $1 million (CAD) in the category of projects which support economic diversification.

The funds will be used to set up infrastructure on the Adams Lake Reserve in Chase, BC, so the Band can have a facility to do the work required. That would include necessities such as gravel, power, water, and sewer to start the business as well as building and machinery.