Jack Blacksmith returns to lead CREECO and the BOC

His name is synonymous with economic development in Eeyou Istchee, and now Waswanipi’s Jack Blacksmith is back in charge at Cree Regional Economic Enterprises Company and the Board of Compensation.

Having been on the entity’s board on and off since the mid 1980s and as president and chairman for almost a decade, Blacksmith brings a wealth of experience.

His return comes at a sensitive time for the dual entities. CREECO/BOC have so far successfully resisted Cree Nation Government attempts to absorb them and their assets into a powerful new structure created by the Paix des braves, the Cree Development Corporation.

The Nation spoke with Blacksmith about his return and his plans for the two economic institutions.

The Nation: How does it feel to be back at the helm?

Jack Blacksmith: It feels good. It is a real challenge. I know how difficult it is to run this organization but with the board that I have and the support staff that I have, I think that we can make this a really successful entity. It is right now.

TN: Why do you think you were voted back in as president?

JB: Even before this election a couple of people had spoken to me about the possibility of running again. I had made up my mind at the beginning of November that I would make a go of this. And so I went for this and the election outcome was very positive for me.

TN: What is different between now and the last time that you held this position?

JB: One of the things that has really changed is the fact that there is another entity that the Cree Nation Government is trying to create called the Cree Development Corporation and this has been picking up speed.

This is something that is very much going to be in the forefront for us as an organization.

At the same time, the Cree Nation Government has always spoken of the possibility of taking over the funds under the BOC as well as CREECO’s assets.

TN: What would be your plan here?

JB: One of the things that I have always said and I think that the Board really backs me here is that we are all for the development of the CDC and that we all understand the need to develop jobs in the communities. This is something that I have always stressed.

This is something that we really need because the growth (and birth) rate is so high in the communities compared to the federal and the provincial growth rates. We are hovering at around 3% where as Canada is around 1% and Quebec is often at around 0%. So, you can see the difference in terms of how many young people we have, we know that we are going to have to find employment for all of those young people.

The CDC, when you look at the overall possibilities of what it is supposed to do, this is one of the things that it can tackle, the local situations with jobs.

We are very supportive of the development of this corporation but the way that it is being proposed, in terms of a takeover of the BOC, is something that we are opposed to.

I am of the opinion that the BOC does not need any fixing in terms of an organization. We still look after the monies in terms of how it was originally envisioned when it was first created so that we can have these monies forever. This is our plan and this is how we look after our investments; with diversified funds and we have a lot of money managers, which is something that is very important for us so that we don’t get into trouble when hard times hit the markets.

When you look at CREECO and the subsidiaries, we have made these companies go full circle and become very successful. Every one of these companies made money last year and it looks like they will again this year, they will be in the black.

If you consider where we are with these two organizations, I think that things are very, very good and so for the CDC, why take out a couple of organizations for the creation of one?

I think that we have been involved in the development of economic development for a long time. We have created economic development for our people and created tons of wealth in terms of the monies coming in and out of the companies but more importantly; we have created a lot of jobs and we have created a lot of training for these jobs.

TN: What are the first few issues that you plan on tackling?

JB: Right now I have to carry on with the issues that have been facing the corporations right now and finish out some of the things that were previously started. I am not new to this organization and so I have files that I have to carry out.

I am also tackling a planning session, probably in the next few weeks for CREECO and the other subsidiaries to see where we can improve our companies and to see where we can create more employment.

We also have to look at the BOC in terms of its investments. I will also be setting up a public relations centre for the BOC because there is a lot of misinformation going on at the moment and people have been saying that we are losing a lot of money.

I would really like to show people what we have done over the last 10 years in terms of these investments and also show them where the money was spent.

I am also hoping to visit a lot of the communities.

TN: What do you feel is the biggest obstacle for CREECO/BOC right now?

JB: Well, it is not an obstacle within itself but it is a situation that has been created with the CDC. I am still trying to convince our employees that we need business as usual because this is very important. We have about 400 employees that work for us on a full time basis and so we need to tell them that it is business as usual, that we have to continue that process and that nobody is going to come in and take our companies immediately without our participation.

Any employees being presented with this situation would be at least a little bit leery as they are not sure what is going to happen to them and so this is the situation that we are going to be looking at.

The other situation I will be looking at is our economy, as it is very down right now and this is creating problems for us in terms of possible contracts.

TN: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

JB: Last week, when I was talking to our employees, I said that we have to be very open to whatever situation comes and always keep in mind that the BOC’s monies are the people’s monies and the people’s assets.