BASE Atlantic

Principal: Tiiu Poder, Operations, Administration, Policy Development

Background

Over the past thirty years my career has grown from marketing director in the corporate sector, owner manager of a manufacturing company to the founding director of the StFX Enterprise Development Centre in Antigonish. In between, was a two-year stop at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where I launched the Art and Entrepreneurship program, the Student Art Store and advocated on behalf of the university as the Director of Development.

During a decade in the university business development arena, I actively delivered business skills training and programs to specific sectors including arts and culture, cooperative groups (related to the Sable Offshore Energy Project), agriculture, boatbuilding, small craft harbours and indigenous communities. This included the delivery of entrepreneurship workshops and lectures throughout Atlantic Canada as well as involvement with trade missions to eastern seaboard states on behalf of the fine crafts industry.

Outlook

The indigenous cultural renaissance is emerging in Canada – an assertion which I welcome and ascribe to. At this stage of my career, my passion lies in accelerating positive change among First Nations communities, particularly by building capacity among leadership.

My broad spectrum of experience from the wide span of work I have undertaken over the years, has resulted in the holistic and non-formulaic approach I bring to projects regardless of how diverse or specific they may be. My modus operandi is to break down organizational silos and integrate projects, programs, people and policies with the big picture.

Excellent research and community consultation are intrinsic to the success of any project. For example, my work with the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation takes into account prior history, best practices and current technologies within the broader framework of community development and capacity building. Information is often based on verbal history acquired from community elders and traditional knowledge holders.

The concept of lasting change within any improvement effort is the interaction of shared experiences and perspectives of individuals and stakeholders. My aim is to facilitate an inclusive forum that inspires creativity, builds enthusiasm and creates clear directives that are understood and agreed upon by the project participants. Participants have their voices heard and are regularly acknowledged and recognized for their contributions.

Experience

For more than a decade I have become professionally connected to central Labrador, working with both the Inuit of Nunatsiavut and the Innu of Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation. In past years I have dedicated several months a year living in the community and working with its members on a variety of projects related to capacity building and economic development.

I began my consulting work with the Labrador Inuit Development Corporation (LIDC) who were majority owners of the Torngait Ujanniavingit Corporation (TUC) located in Ten Mile Bay, Paul’s Island, Labrador. This is the most northerly sub-arctic dimension stone quarry in Canada that produced a rare, semi-precious anorthocite stone called “Blue Eyes” that is sold for high end architectural projects as tile, counter tops, slabs and architectural cladding. The first step was the development of a Strategic Plan that included marketing initiatives throughout North America. That led to my participation in trade missions to the USA and marketing junkets throughout a variety of states where we established retail accounts in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey.  

From there grew a connection with the Sivunivut Inuit Community Corporation and the Nunatsiavut Government in North West River, Labrador. I prepared an extensive Community Economic Leakage Study that led to the development of a strategic plan to address the challenges and opportunities in the community of North West River, a former regional economic hub that fell into demise when the hospital was moved and the bridge was built connecting to Happy Valley Goose Bay.

During my time there I also delivered several entrepreneurship development workshops for local community members who were planning small business start ups or expanding existing ones.

Across the river lies the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation. I was first called upon by their Chief and Council to help address the challenge of youth unemployment. Built on a model I developed during my tenure as Director of the StFX Enterprise Development Centre called the Heritage Skills Apprenticeship Program, we created a similar program that matched unemployed youth with elders who were skilled in native crafts and canoe building. As new skills were imparted, I led regular workshops teaching business and marketing skills to both the mentors and their apprentices. In order to support the program, we acquired close to a million dollars of external funding from a variety of sources and the program flourished and was celebrated in the community.

As I came to know and deepen my understanding of SIFN, my work expanded to policy development and strategic planning under the Professional and Institutional Development Program – Leadership Governance Capacity Development administered by Indigenous Services Canada. Following an assessment by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) that identified areas of weakness related to governance, we developed a plan. The plan included policy and strategic development for: 1) Human Resources; 2) Governance; 3) Housing; 4) Information Management and 5) Communications. In the process I worked with the Band Manager/Director of Operations on improving administrative practices resulting in monthly management meetings and broader communications among leadership. We worked together on departmental strategic planning exercises as well as planning and executing their AGM’s.

This resulted in the completion of the SIFN Personnel Policy and the Governance Policy as well as the delivery of staff training for policy implemention. In the process, I created a blog/website for Sheshatshiu that enables communications and transparency between leadership and the community. See http://www.sheshatshiuinnufirstnation.com

Most recently I prepared the SIFN Custom Election Code that was ratified by a community referendum in February of 2024. This was followed by the general election in August that was deemed a great success. It was the first fee and fair election without coersion from candidates. The Custom Election Code was supplemented by a CEC Handbook for Election Officials – a comprehensive guide that standardizes all procedures.

Associate: Hugh MacKay, Management Consultant

Hugh is President of Pier 12 Management Inc. and is the Managing Partner of Novellus Management Consultancy. He has held both positions since 2012, following a distinguished 30-year career working in Canada’s high tech sector with Intermap Technologies in Ottawa, Ontario, and Munich, Germany .  

Pier 12 Management is Atlantic Canada’s leading sponsorship management firm. Hugh’s primary role at Pier 12 is helping community groups and cultural organizations achieve financial sustainability through corporate sponsorship. He has developed and implemented professional sponsorship programs for clients including Atlantic University Sports, the Antigonish Highland Games, Celtic Colours, Doors Open Halifax and others .

Novellus Management is a leading Canadian geomatics (survey and mapping) firm.  Novellus has worked with national and international clients to successfully introduce geomatics marketing and administration programs in Asia, Europe and across Canada.  During his time with Novellus, Hugh served a term as Executive Director of GeoAlliance Canada, the national association for geomatics organizations across Canada.

Hugh served as the elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Chester-St. Margaret’s from 2017 to 2021. During his term in the provincial government, Hugh served as Ministerial Assistant for the Department of Business, holding particular responsibilities with Develop Nova Scotia, Tourism Nova Scotia and Innovacorp, gaining intimate knowledge of the workings of government financial support programs.      

In association with BASE Atlantic, Hugh’s unique combination of commercial and government experience helps First Nation communities develop sponsorship programs that will provide financial support for their administrative and operational activities.