SCOTCHFORT - At certain times of the year, Abegweit First Nation, with a population of approximately 450, can have an unemployment rate between 30 and 40 per cent.
So, economic development is important and when the band officially opened Redstone Auto and Marine Saturday, at least three people were added to the workforce.
The band also owns a gas bar on the reserve in Scotchfort that is being expanded and will double its size and Redstone Seafood, which is a commissioned lobster buyer.
That business opened this past summer and between them, they employ 15 people.
The band, which has members living in Scotchfort, Morell and Rocky Point, is always looking for ways to improve the lives of its members, said band Chief Brian Francis.
“We are always looking at ways to create our own source revenues in our communities because, as we all know, the funding we get from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is just not enough to sustain our community,” Francis said during an interview at the official opening.
The band has injected its own money into the projects as well as Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the chief said.
Redstone Auto and Marine was registered as a business last January, said Danny Sark, manager of the business.
He said the band did not get any funding sources, but “we had to start (open) anyway in the second week in August. It was slow going at first, but in the last two weeks with our advertising, our sales are starting to really pick up.”
He said federal guidelines are so stringent it is difficult to get “any funding whatsoever and when we went to hire our apprentice mechanic, it took close to 18 months to get the funding for that because of all the red tape you have to go through. So we were not going to wait for any red tape and so we went out on our own and actually did it.”
Because of the employment prospects and the economic need for the new business, the band decided to go ahead with the project by getting bank loans, Sark explained.
“We found there was a need between Morell and Charlottetown for a place that was actually in between that would fix automobiles, trucks and marine vessels so that was our major reason for starting. We have kind of a niche market where we do both.”
Sark also said it is hoped to use one of the garage’s bays for work on big rig trucks.
