Province places fund under MMF control

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This article was published 24/06/2023 (1183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province of Manitoba has signed over control of the Métis Economic Development Fund to the Manitoba Métis Federation.

The fund, created in 2011, has up until now been managed my MEDF Inc., the Métis Economic Development Fund, with the Manitoba government and the Manitoba Métis Federation as sole members. Under the new agreement, MEDF Inc. will be dissolved, and its assets transferred to Louis Riel Capital Corporation (LLRC), a MMF affiliate, which has a mandate to support Métis-owned businesses.

This transfer of control gives the MMF greater autonomy over the direction of the fund and strengthens its self-determination to act in the ways that best addresses the needs of its people, MMF President David Chartrand said during a press conference on Friday.

“The Red River Métis have always had a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, and we look forward to further developing the fund to even better serve our people and advance the economic engine of our nation,” Chartrand said.

The provincial government has been working closely with the Manitoba Métis Federation on economic reconciliation, and Manitoba owes much of its success to the achievement and contributions of Métis entrepreneurs and businesses, Economic Development, Investment and Trade Minister Jeff Wharton said during the press conference.

“This tremendous support has allowed Métis entrepreneurs to pursue and launch a diverse range of businesses and initiatives in construction and manufacturing, in oil and gas and trucking, in telecommunications and restaurants, and in many other sectors in Manitoba’s economy,” Wharton said. “We can all agree that this is an excellent return on investment that Manitoba can be very proud of.”

At the press conference, MMF Housing and Property Management Minister Will Goodon remembered his father Irvin, a successful Métis entrepreneur who died in December 2021.

Having left school in Grade 7 when he realized he could earn more money on his trapline to contribute to his family’s living expenses, Irvin Goodon went on to harvest and sell fence posts to local farmers. After that, he started a feedlot cleaning operation and his own sawmill. He brought post-frame construction of farm buildings to Canada in 1963.

“He was the biggest agricultural builder in Western Canada at the time he left the company, but it didn’t start out easy for him, which is why this fund is so important,” Goodon said.

Irvin Goodon also faced barriers in his business career due to racism, his son said.

“I remember my dad telling me when he was young and trying to buy equipment that the banks wouldn’t talk to him. They literally would not talk to him. He had to go to finance companies, which as we know, charged several per cent higher interest, but he made it work, even though everyone said that he couldn’t because of the colour of his skin because he lived in the bush because he was a half-breed,” Will Goodon said.

Since its inception, the fund has invested nearly $11.3 million into Red River Métis businesses, leveraging an additional $28.2 million and creating more than 1,200 jobs. The province initially provided $10 million over six years to capitalize the fund, which provided debt and equity capital to Métis entrepreneurs with viable business plans, the MMF said. The MMF didn’t disclose which businesses in Westman and Brandon have been aided by the fund, citing privacy concerns.

Métis people in the province are proving that they are contributing to the economy in positive ways, Goodon said.

“Today’s announcements and others that we’ll be covering later are sure signs that the Red River Métis are re-establishing themselves as the economic engines of Manitoba.”

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