BURST
Squiala First Nation Chief David Jimmie has always looked at business dealings as a way to get “a true seat at the table” to address his community’s interests and look after its needs.
So Jimmie was intrigued when Enbridge Inc., two years ago, broached the prospect of selling an equity interest in its sprawling Westcoast gas pipeline network to First Nations whose territories were close to the facility.
“We had some initial meetings with Enbridge to understand what the opportunity might look like,” Jimmie said Thursday. “And then it was a matter of Nations interested in pursuing this.”
After reflection and their respective decisions, the answer for 36 Nations was yes. Thursday, the consortium they formed under the name Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance unveiled the $715 million agreement struck with Enbridge to buy a 12.5 per cent stake in 2,900-km pipeline network.
The deal is subject to the completion of financing, which includes a $400 million federal loan guarantee, but is expected to close by the end of June and deliver continuing economic benefits to the consortium over the next 65 years.
“People often ask me what economic reconciliation for Indigenous people looks like,” Jimmie said. “This is it.”
Jimmie has been a proponent of economic reconciliation since becoming chief of the Squiala in 2009 after building a successful construction company from scratch. He still heads the firm that is partnered in projects in Chilliwack and the Okanagan’s Westbank.
“I’m a pro business individual, I’d like to say,” Jimmie said. “And when we can advance business to generate revenues for communities, I think we grow stronger collectively.”
Early on, Jimmie pursued an MBA at Simon Fraser University, as well as certificate courses at the University of B.C. and Harvard to help bridge his school of hard knocks with more formal business education to start providing his community with the expertise for which they’d typically rely on consultants.
“I don’t think you walk out of a masters program feeling like a master,” Jimmie said. An MBA does, however, teach you to “peel apart different business models,” and apply them to what you need.
For the Squiala, that has meant working in everything from forestry operations to pursuing run-of-river hydro power, and a recent small joint venture with the Agassiz-based specialty sawmill PowerWood.
PowerWood CEO Jake Power describes Jimmie as a savvy business person who does a good job of representing his community’s needs.
“He approaches it from really good, strong business principles,” Power said, adding that Jimmie holds the values that his community shares, and for which they are all proud.
“He’s also just a nice person,” Power added. “Sometimes you’re in a room negotiating with someone and it really feels like a negotiation where you’ve got to watch your back. It just never feels that way with Dave.”
If problems crop up, Power said, “you just always have a lot of confidence that you can speak openly” with Jimmie.
Power said he’s not surprised at the news of the Stonlasec8 deal. “I think having someone like Dave at the middle of it will always help smooth talks along because people feel pretty comfortable having open conversation in any room that he’s in.”
Jimmie said leaders have to separate businesses themselves from community governance.
“You kind of work with the community to understand exactly what it is that we’d like to address,” Jimmie said. “Then you kind of take the business approach to say, ‘OK, can we generate the revenues to support that and not be dependent on government funding?'”
There are also other irons in the fire for the Squiala. Among the positions Jimmie holds, which include president of the Stó:lō Nation Chiefs Council and president of Ts’elxweyéqw Tribe Management Ltd, he is also chair and vice-president of the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group.
That is one of the consortiums seeking an equity stake in the Trans Mountain Pipeline project, which Jimmie joined after years of opposing the project.
In 2023, he told the Globe and Mail that becoming an owner would be the best way for the Squiala to get the oversight over the project it failed to get through legal challenges.
Jimmie said Thursday he’s hopeful about the outcome of the process for determining Indigenous equity in that project.
“I do believe that leading by example is great for our members to see,” Jimmie said. “I think the younger generation is seeing more of our Indigenous people with post-secondary degrees, graduate degrees, becoming lawyers in the business field.”
“I think (my) philosophy is ‘why don’t we get out and do what we can to support our communities and foster the ability for this next generation to take it to another level,” Jimmie said.
With files from The Canadian Press