In time for the holiday shopping season, the Cree Nation Government’s Department of Commerce and Industry (DCI) is launching a mobile app designed to reward community members for supporting businesses within Eeyou Istchee. Starting December 1, community members can upload receipts over $10 to the Keep It Local app and gain entry to a monthly $500 gift card draw.
With the CNG calling this the “year of economic development,” the DCI hopes to coordinate this initiative with its new Cree business registry, which already has over 250 businesses registered. Once consumers download the user-friendly app, they can upload up to five proofs of purchase each day for a chance to win in draws until April 15.
“It’s an initiative where everybody wins,” said DCI director Anthony MacLeod. “It’s a tool to demonstrate our focus on innovation in addressing the needs of Cree businesses in our communities. Growing our Cree economy is truly a community effort.”
While MacLeod understands that community members will always be drawn to neighbouring towns for groceries and materials, often by necessity, he was inspired by “support local” campaigns such as in Chibougamau that sometimes simply involve submitting your name in a ballot box.
“I thought why don’t we do something similar for Eeyou Istchee,” MacLeod explained. “Everybody has a phone. The regional sector experienced a bit of a bump during Covid when it was difficult to travel. We bought things locally where the money stays in the community.”
Adapting the concept to the Cree Nation means integrating local artisans. As long as the receipts are valid, consumers can transfer their purchases of snowshoes or any other Cree crafts to the app. With a rapidly growing population, the initiative is part of a larger movement to modernize the Eeyou/Eenou economy.
“There are a lot of opportunities in our communities to monetize your passion,” said Raymond Jolly, owner of Eeyou Istchee Lifestyle. “Do what you love to do – you just have to find a need. People will talk about you but keep moving forward.”
Jolly is working with DCI to develop a promotional video for the Keep It Local app. Since launching his brand in 2021 following business studies, the young Waskaganish entrepreneur has co-founded Eeyoupreneur with Samuel McLeod and began hosting the popular Little House podcast alongside Terence Hester and Conrad Blueboy.
“We started with $5,000 cash as a start-up and now we have three people on payroll with the help of ASD [Apatisiiwin Skills Development],” explained Jolly. “We purchased a trailer to travel around for popup shops and invested in a new retail location. We have a hangout room and new styles coming in.”
In August, the DCI teamed up with Eeyoupreneur for the inaugural Cree Nation Business Summit in Chisasibi, which featured influential guest speakers and a group case study competition. At next year’s edition in Mistissini, MacLeod hopes to encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors while promoting the success of more experienced Cree entrepreneurs.
“I think we’ll be looking at some sort of business exchange day because we need to share the success stories,” MacLeod told the Nation. “The government organizations are the major employers here and the private sector is a very small percentage of jobs. We have to grow that sector and have tools to initiate that.”
On November 13, the Secretariat to the Cree Nation Abitibi-Témiscamingue Economic Alliance (SCNATEA) held its 21st annual business exchange day in Val-d’Or. Hosted by Christopher Hérodier, the event drew about 200 people for business meetings, mentorship and networking.
SCNATEA president Ted Moses was presented a beaded medallion and discussed the coming year’s 50th anniversary of the JBNQA, for which he was a key negotiator. In his address, he advocated for the Cree Nation’s involvement in not only the region’s economy, but in Canada and beyond.
A new addition this year was a special presentation of Niimuudaan, a culturally adapted mentorship program for the Cree Nation that SCNATEA recently launched in partnership with Réseau Mentorat.
“It is Cree entrepreneurs who are already in business with experience and careers being paired with entrepreneurs starting their journey or aspiring entrepreneurs,” explained SCNATEA director general Julie Martin. “Coaching and counselling are people getting paid to give you advice. Mentorship is a free relationship that comes from within, the passion to transfer knowledge to the next generation.”
Former Air Creebec president Matthew Happyjack was introduced as Niimuudaan’s head mentor while Charlotte Ottereyes will mentor Cree women. As president of the Cree Women of Eeyou Istchee Association, Ottereyes helped organize the first Indigenous Women’s Leadership Conference in March.
Throughout the year, the Secretariat remains open to inquiries about facilitating partnerships and promotes its Allia app. An array of resources adapted to the realities of the Cree Nation are empowering an increasingly diversified regional economy.
“We want to be facilitators so it’s easier for people to take that first step,” asserted Martin. “It gives me a lot of hope for the Cree Nation claiming that power in the economy. All those new structures that are starting to emerge show a great future for Cree entrepreneurs.”