Role of PAIL
PAIL
was established by the Inuit leaders in the four land claims settlement regions
of Canada in order to purse the award of the North Warning System (NWS)
operations and maintenance contract, on a joint venture basis, with Frontec
Corporation. The PAIL/Frontec Joint Venture was successful in receiving the
award of this federal government contract and commenced providing services
as of April 1, 1995.
In addition to pursuing this specific business opportunity, the shareholders of PAIL have mandated the company to undertake additional business development activities leading to the evaluation and possible development of further commercial ventures. These further ventures might be pursued either by the Inuit acting collectively through PAIL or by way of other commercial structures or joint venture arrangements. PAIL is particularly interested in potential business opportunities related to the provision of technical and project management services in a northern context.
However, in addition to pursuing these various commercial activities, the Inuit leaders have also given PAIL a more general mandate related to the promotion of Inuit business development. This mandate was confirmed by way of a teleconference of Inuit leaders that was held on June 11, 1997 to discuss the various options for national coordination of issues related to Inuit economic development and trade within and outside the four Inuit land claims settlement regions.
As a result of this teleconference
discussion, it was unanimously agreed by the PAIL Board of Directors and
the Presidents of the four Inuit land claims settlement organizations (also
known as the Inuit birthright corporations) that PAIL would assume responsibility
for the following:
In carrying out this mandate, PAIL has endeavoured to work closely with the regional Inuit organizations (which are also the shareholders of PAIL) and to coordinate on a regular basis with the other Inuit organizations providing political representation for the Inuit of Canada at the national and international levels.
Over the past few years PAIL has explored how it can most effectively carry out its expanded role in identifying and assisting in the development of business opportunities in which the Inuit might like to become involved. As a priority area of activity, regional Inuit development corporations and their various subsidiaries are contacted by PAIL if we find out about any potential business opportunities where Inuit companies might like to become involved. As well, PAIL brings information on subcontracting opportunities related to the North Warning System to the attention of PAIL's shareholder corporations and their subsidiaries.
As an extension of its Inuit business development activities, PAIL was asked by Inuit leaders to explore options for developing a comprehensive listing of Inuit businesses in the four Inuit settlement regions of Canada. It was envisaged that this listing would show the products and service lines provided by these companies and how they could be contacted by others in order to obtain further information or for business development purposes.
It was also intended that the information
in this data base would be loaded on the PAIL web site and that it would
relate to Inuit-owned firms in each of the four Inuit land claim settlement
regions (i.e., Labrador, Nunavik, Nunavut, and Inuvialuit). In carrying out
the development of the Inuit Business Directory, PAIL has therefore worked
in close collaboration with regional Inuit organizations and development
corporations and has, wherever possible, utilized mutually agreed data collection
formats so that the information in this data base will be collected in a
comprehensive, systematic and consistent manner.
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