Keepers of the Earth
A joint venture was launched in July 2014 by several of Alberta’s Metis Settlement communities and Active Energy Group Plc, an international timber products firm listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is being touted as a “template” that could help create economic independence throughout Canada’s Indigenous communities through commercialization of forestry assets. The establishment of the joint venture came after more than half a decade of interaction, negotiation and planning. Joint venture members and others gathered together in Edmonton’s Oasis Centre on January 27 to celebrate the recently formed KAQUO Forestry & Natural Resources Development Corporation (KAQUO FNRDC) and to participate in the company’s inaugural KAQUO Métis Settlements Economic Development Summit. (In the Cree language, KAQUO means ‘all of us’).
The corporation was formed to commercialize the natural resources on the Métis lands “in an equitable, environmentally responsible and culturally sensitive manner, and to encourage long-term sustainable economic development and employment within the Métis communities.”