Day 2 of Gwich'in Tribal Council assembly focused on economic issues

At the annual general assembly for the Gwich'in Tribal Council on Wednesday, much of the discussions were centred around economic issues.

Yesterday was the second day of the assembly, whichwas originally scheduled to occur in Aklavik from Aug. 15 to17. It was postponed due to wildfires in the region, then postponed again due to wildfires in the North Slave and South Slave regions. It got underway Tuesday in the midnight sun complex in Inuvik.

On Wednesday, members heard presentations from the Gwich'in Development Corporation and the Gwich'in Settlement Corporation on their activities for the year. There were also twoshorter presentations from NorthwesTel, and counsellors Jean and Roy Erasmus Sr. of the Dene Wellness Warriors.

Butthediscussion of a forensic audit that found Designated Gwich'inOrganizations in communities were mismanaging finances waspostponed until Thursday.

Roy Erasmus Jr., is the CEO for the Gwich'in Development Corporation. In his presentation, he said thecorporation is looking into many new business opportunities including possibly starting an energy company, working to grow its involvement in construction projects, and even looking into starting a Tim Hortons franchise.

He also encouraged more Gwich'in members to get involved in the business world.

"Currently we have more opportunities than we have businesses and participants ready to take it on," he said.

Members also got an update on the performance of investments held through the Gwich'in Settlement Corporation.Last year's chair Jamie Koe said that overall, the fund lost about $920,000 last year, equal to a 0.7 per cent loss in their total funds.

Koe attributed the losses to market conditions including high inflation and interest rates, and stressed that the fund was doing better than the market overall.

For next year, each designated community organization will receive about $480,000and the Gwich'in Tribal Council will receive about $1.5 millionfrom the Settlement Corp. Both those amounts are higher than last year.

For communities whose funding has been suspended, Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik said that all funding from the Gwich'in Tribal Council is being held in trust, and will be released to communities once issues with presidents and councils have been resolved and overdue audited financial statements have been submitted.

Wednesday's session ended with an in-camera discussion onalleged code of conduct violations by Mavis Clark, interim president of Gwichya Gwich'in Council in Tsiigehtchic, and Abe Wilson, president of the Teet'it Gwich'in Council in Fort McPherson.

Wilson was suspended by the Gwich'in Tribal Council's board of directors earlier this year, according to meeting minutes posted on the GTC's website. Clark was suspended even earlier.

Grand ChiefKyikavichik told CBC earlier this year that a forensic audit by accounting firm Deloitte found many issues of financial mismanagement at Designated Gwich'in Organizations including potential conflicts of interests and fraudulent uses of organization funds, but said the suspensions of Wilson and Clark were unrelated to the forensic audit.

Kyikavichik told CBC's William Firth that the discussion of the forensic audit is expected to take placeThursdaymorning.