Next year, the NWT Chamber of Commerce marks 50 years of working to strengthen private business development as the basis of economic and social progress in the Northwest Territories.
Over those five decades, our organization has managed to remain a going concern, despite facing many of the same challenges faced by our members. It’s not an easy life in the North, what with brutish weather, challenging transport and, until welcome upgrades in recent years, an internet no better than two cans and a string.
We are a small population in an expansive land. We have a unique economy dominated by the public sector. Our membership has ranged from hardscrabble surveyors and prospectors to determined entrepreneurs staking their own sales or services claims in communities large and small.
Later on, our membership grew with national companies and multi-national corporations, as gold gave way to diamonds as the NWT’s economic driver. We have Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people forging their own governments and economic arms — some with incredible success.
At the NWT Chamber’s AGM in 2013, then-premier Bob McLeod delivered a decidedly optimistic forecast for the territory’s economy, which had just emerged from a dark time.
“There has never been a more important time for us to look ahead, past the limitations that exist today, to envision a vibrant, diversified economy where entrepreneurship and risk are rewarded,” he said. “Together, we in Canada’s Northwest Territories are now poised to take a monumental step forward.”
McLeod was speaking at a time when post-recession recovery was in full swing and devolution was just a year away. And we certainly did enjoy a few really good years.
But for myriad national socio-political and global economic reasons, we never met the Conference Board of Canada’s prediction of a decade ago that the North’s GDP would double by 2020. Then came the two years of the pandemic.
As we pull ourselves out of these inflationary times — and hopefully sidestep a major recession — 2023 can be deemed a critical year for the North’s economy, especially in light of a territory-wide general election in the fall.
As the person charged with ensuring this non-profit is ready for its next 50 years, and with apologies to Edgar Allan Poe, I do hear the future “gently rapping, rapping” at the Chamber’s door.
The NWT Chamber’s board of directors is developing a new three-year strategic plan to refine our mission, sharpen our vision and enhance our core objectives. We are reviewing how to connect best with regions without community chambers, while also determining how to work best with communities such as Hay River and Norman Wells, who do have registered and active chambers.
One thing is for certain as the NWT Chamber looks ahead to 2023, we want to increase overall membership to provide more informed regional insight and to ensure our long-term viability as a business lobby organization that exists largely through membership dues.
We also hope to build relationships and increase participation from First Nations, Inuit and Métis business owners and managers, to help foster inclusive economic growth.
Former premier McLeod had a vision of a strong and prosperous Northwest Territories that would provide benefits and opportunities to all people and regions.
He said to be effective, partnerships would be the key. As we move into 2023, McLeod’s words still ring so true: “All of us, the Government of the Northwest Territories, Aboriginal and community governments, business and civil society, have an interest in the future of our territory. If we are to move forward, we will need to do it together.”