i

On-reserve banks proposed

by Tod Strachan "—

According to Alexander Highet,
vice-president and regional general
manager of the Federal Business
Development Bank’s B.C. and
Yukon region, FBDB and Com-
munity Futures staff in our area
will be joining forces in September
to teach key native people in the
Northwest how to be lenders.

ALEXANDER HIGHET:
Lending to their own people,
on their own property, and
sorting it out by themselves.

There’s nothing new in this joint
training venture. Highet explains
that FBDB has the necessary train-
ing program and Community
Futures can best provide the
needed training environment to
deliver that program.

Aboriginal Credit Corporations”
will solve one of the biggest prob-
lems native ‘people living on-
reserve have faced since the white
man arrived in this land. With
short-sighted wisdom, early
governments made laws to protect
natives living on reserves; their
private property was protected and
couldn't. be taken away on the
default of a loan.

Some thought this to be an envi-
able position, but it had an
inherent problem that has kept the
native community out of the main-
stream of society for years. If your
private properly is protected you
have no collateral. If you have no
collateral you can’t borrow money.
And if you can’t borrow money
you probably can’t start a business.

Adding to the problem was

-another law which said native

people shouldn’t have to worry
about trivial matters such as taking

care of their own money. Instead,
the government of the day set up
an agency to do this for them. An
agency that would tell them when,

where, why and how to spend their |

money. .

But this is the 1990's and things
are changing. "The whole way of
funding the native people has
changed," explains _ Highet.

"They’re now getting the money _

into their own hands instead of
through Indian Affairs and they're.

Credit Corporations."

As described by Highet, Abori-
ginal Credit Corporations are small
local banks operated on reserves
by the Native people themselves
_— that solves the collateral prob-
lem. "They will be lending to their
own people, on their own property,
and sorting it out themselves,” he
says.

There aren’t any of the these
lending institutions operating just
yet, though. Highet says federal
legislation offering the framework
for these institutions is only
months old and the native people
who will be managing these banks
still: need to be trained. Highet
says this training began with a
Western Canada seminar on the
basics of fending money in Win-
nipeg in early July. More special-
ized training will begin in our area
in mid-September under the direc-
tion of Terrace FBDB manager
Paul Williams and his new training
coordinator Bob Walch... .

Helping to train new Native bank
managers to run Aboriginal Credit
Corporations will be one of the
first challenges for the newest staff
member in the Terrace FBDB
office, training coordinator Bob
Walch. Walch artives in Terrace
from Edmonton, where he was
until recently in business for him-
self. But he’s not new to the
Northwest.

"He's very familiar with this part
of the world and in the services we
provide," says Highet. "Especially
in the training and counselling end
of it.”

Walch has worked in the North-
west before, most recently as the

manager of the Royal Bank of
Canada in Cassiar, And on Aug. 9
he will take charge of his new
position as training coordinator in
the Terrace FBDB office.

8:00

Terrace Health Care

t.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Thursday, September 13, 1990

Skeena Room #1, Terrace Inn

_ Current members of the Terrace Health Care Society
may renew their memberships on or before
September 13, 1990.

~ New members who wish to have voting rights at the
Annual General Meeting must become a member of the

August 13, 1990.

Memberships may be purchased at
Mills Memorial Hospital.

TERRACE HEALTH
CARE SOCIETY

{INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE SERVICES

|

P.M.

Society on or before

I

Highet says that up until this

point all FBDB training programs,,

seminars and workshops have been
coordinated out of Prince George.
But the demand for training in our
area, which is bounded by Hous-
ton, the Queen Charlottes, Kitimat
and the Yukon border, has been
growing rapidly and there is now
room for a full time training
coordinator here. =
FBDB training programs take
several forms, says Highet. Some

re__are initiated by FBDB themselves
setting up a number of Aboriginal -

in the form of workshops, some
are coordinated between FBDB
and Community Futures, and
others are custom designed at the
request of a local business and
offered on-site to management
personnel. He adds that most
FBDB training programs are aimed
at the management level of small

- Terrace Review — Wednesday, August 8, 1990 A9

businesses and involve topics such
as personnel management, cash
flow forecasting, bookkeeping and
marketing.

When asked why there has been
such a dramatic increase in the
demand for training programs in
our area, Highet gave credit to a
new FBDB strategy. In the past
year, FBDB has been retaining
very specialized, high profile
speakers to host workshops on
specific topics. One example is the
Women in Business workshop that
was offered in Terrace a few
months ago.

Workshops like this have had a
spin-off effect. They have created
a "need" for more training. "These
things sori of raise peoples aware-
ness of the need to know... the
need to learn," Highet explains.
And put another way: "People,

Solution in works for native business problem

when they get to talk to each
other, become aware of what they.
have to know... and what they

don’t know."
And this trend will continue,
according to Highet. Wolfgang

_ Babel will be touring the North-

west from Oct. 1-3 with his most
recent offering, Customer Service _
Excellence. "He’s studied this topic
at length," says Highet, "and he
has a very excellent delivery."
The fact that FBDB thinks highly
of this particular speaker is appat-

ent; they hired him themselves

recently to talk to their own branch
managers. "He has a very effective
style and he has a very good mes-
sage," says Highel. "We hope the
managers will leam something
from this and be able to translate
that into the way their staff
handles their customers."

Child Development Centre
announces photo contest

Local photographers are being invited to submit
their best images of Christmas or winter to the
Terrace Child Development Centre in their first-ever
contest to choose a picture for us¢ on their
Christmas cards. The cards are to be used for
raising funds to support the centre, which offers a
wide range of services for developmentally
disadvantaged pre-school children.

Contestants can enter as many photos as they
wish, atid the photos can be either black and white.
or-color:..The: finished cards will be. printed in
duotone: white and one color. Each entry should be

envelope.

accompanied by a separatc entry form (below).
Photographers who want their photos returned
should include a stamped, self-addressed retum

Two winners will be chosen, and the prizes are
tickets for two to the centre’s annual dinner and
dance, one of the premier events on Terrace’s social

calendar. The evening is scheduled for Oct. 20, with
entertainment by Emerald Express.

Entry deadline is Sept. 6, For further information
call Margot Hayes at 635-9388. Entries should be
sent to the Terrace Child Development Centre, 2510
S. Eby St, Terrace, B.C., V8G 2X3.

Name:

~ ENTRY FORM

Address:

Day Phone:

Evening Phone:

Do you want your photo returned? Yes (SASE attached) No

Cr nemnediamanat |

PICTURE THIS!
- Portraits Taken Today

Pick up color preview proofs, next day

after 3 o’clock

(some restrictions apply)”

Sure Exposure

Photographic Studio |
4617 Lazelle Avenue (beside Sears)

Phone 635-9714

Next Day Custom Framing

Art Work

Cross Stitch
Needle Point

Bring in by 12 o’clock noon
Pick up next day
(after 4 o’clock)

Photography etc. (some restrictions apply)*

* Does not apply to Sundays or Holidays and Weddings