Award Category: Indigenous Business Award

Dolly (Watts) McRae’s restaurant, the Liliget Feast House on Vancouver’s Davie Street, was open for 12 years. The 52-seat restaurant received a four-star rating from the New York Times for offering the best Aboriginal food in North America. McRae has also garnered her share of awards including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2001 and a gold medal in the Iron Chef competition, received at the age of 69. A strong entrepreneurial spirit has motivated McRae from the time she was a young, resourceful child until her initiative inspired her to return to university as a mature student where she studied anthropology. Later, she established her catering business, which, in turn, led to the opening of The Liliget Feast House. McRae’s legacy carries on with the 2007 publication “Where People Feast: An Indigenous People’s Cookbook” which she co-authored with her daughter Annie.

Jeff Ward founded Animikii Inc. in 2003 and continues as its sole operator. The business provides its clients with website design, web application development and web hosting expertise. Based in Sooke, Animikii has clients from throughout North America and develops relationships with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal partners.

Kekuli Café Aboriginal Foods & Catering is an Aboriginal food and catering business located in a retail development within the Westbank First Nation. The restaurant offers foods traditionally served by Interior First Nations and has captured a unique market niche in the highly competitive food industry. Inspired to open a café by the large demand for bannock in her original catering and concession business, Kekuli’s owner Sharon Bond has transformed the product and creatively featured it throughout her menu.

Since its inception in 1984, Little Kingdom has grown into a diverse business offering a range of retail products and services including a gas bar, convenience store, bakery, groceries and hardware. Under the vision and direction of Robert Marchand, the business serves the many travellers and communities located on the west side of the north arm of Lake Okanagan, successfully filling a market gap and becoming a mainstay of the region.

Ellis Excavating Limited has been operational for the past four years and a lifelong dream of this young entrepreneur. The business, operating from Nanaimo, provides excavation services to the construction industry with the majority of the work being residential subdivision development. The work includes site clearing, road building, trenching, pipe and foundation-laying.

Stuwix Resources was established in 2004 and is owned and operated by eight local Indian bands in the Merritt area. It is the only First Nations company in the B.C. Interior to hold a replaceable forest licence. Stuwix is responsible for the overall management of the licence, including planning, developing, marketing, timber-harvesting, road-building and silviculture. A management committee, made up of representatives from the eight bands, operates the joint venture.

The Tseshaht First Nation has operated a Port Alberni service station since 1979.  From the beginning, the Tseshaht First Nation made the decision to offer full service to its customers, providing employment opportunities to many band members.  The station has managed to meet its social obligations to the Tseshaht First Nation and remain a viable, profit-generating entity, not to mention a station famous for its outstanding customer service. Located strategically on route to the Pacific Rim National Park, the station has become an important and convenient stop for both local travelers and tourists.

As a young entrepreneur, Mike Salto has successfully launched a promising business. He is the founder and proprietor of Salto Waterworks based in Kamloops. After ten years in the underground irrigation business, Mike brought his management and hands-on experience to the ultimate test when he established his own company, Salto Waterworks.  He supplies underground sprinkler systems and snow plough services to Kamloops and its surrounding area. Today it is known as a company that builds solid client working relationships and ensures customer satisfaction.

Sharp entrepreneurial intuition, consistent hard work and unrestrained creativity define the business success of Jags Beanstalk. A well-known coffee house and community gathering spot in Haida Gwaii, the entrepreneurial passions of its owners have led to product diversification and an ambitious plan to add hostel accommodation to their site. Smart financial decisions and effective cost management have resulted in this small business weathering downturns and prospering in good times. Each and every day, proprietors, “Jags” and Susan Brown provide their customers with extraordinary hospitality and are rewarded with customer loyalty.