Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Fire, Indigenous Nations

Frantic escapes, damaged homes and lost time: First Nations hit hardest when wildfire season comes

By Matteo Cimellaro, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Debbie Rupke (Tomma) heard a rattle at her door. It was her cousin in a panic, telling her they had only minutes to leave. Strong winds had shifted, and the Bushcreek fire, which has burned at least 43,084 hectares north of Kelowna so far, was bearing down on their homes. Rupke (Tomma) had returned from Vancouver the day before, so she grabbed her yet-to-be-unpacked suitcase and her most precious memento: a family portrait of her daughter she gave up for adoption at 15.

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Food, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Paul Muskee on Klahoose Aquaculture & QXMC

Paul Muskee has been working for QXMC for close to 15 years and for the last decade has been with Klahoose Aquaculture.

“I feel like my life has led me this way. When I was younger, I did work in aquaculture and I did work in forestry. I was also a mining technologist for a bunch of years, but I grew up  around Powell River, Lund and Desolation Sound.  Running boats has always been part of what I’ve done. I’ve loved working for Klahoose. They’ve been a great employer and I really like the people I’ve work with,” he explained.  

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Business, Indigenous Nations, Tourism

QXMC: Search for a new General Manager

QXMC, the Klahoose First Nation development company, is looking for a new General Manager. 

 “We’ve retained a search company that has a great track record of looking for candidates of this type of size.  In the past, we’ve used companies like Boyden that sort of do searches for Fortune 500 companies, and that’s not what we’re looking for,” explained Ron Buchhorn, Chairman of the QXMC Board.

“We’re looking for people who can run a diverse business. We’re probably talking about $140 million in revenue. It’s a big business mainly on the logging side, which is where most of the revenue comes from, but it’s diverse in terms of logging,  aquaculture, resorts, ecotours, our bear touring operations, and having a sensitivity to our owners and understanding their goals and how they’d like the company operated.” 

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Business, Indigenous Nations

QXMC: The Squirrel Cove Project

It has been almost two years since a parcel of land the Klahoose acquired in Squirrel Cove was added to the reserve. Shortly after that, the  Klahoose development corporation (QXMC) discussed plans to develop 30-40 campsites. Then there was talk of a gas station. 

All of these ideas became much more real about a month ago, when a contractor started falling trees. Now there is a cleared area and freshly drilled well on the part of the property west of Squirrel Cove Road. Across the road, to the east, the path of a future driveway is laid out as a u-shaped clearing. There is also a second well.  

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Business, Indigenous Nations

What’s been happening with the renovations at Gorge Harbour

It has been about seven months since operations at Klahoose Gorge Harbour were scaled back due to a need for extensive renovations. While much of it is not visible to the public, QXMC, the Klahoose First Nation‘s development corporation, has been very busy since then. 

On Wednesday Ron Buchhorn, Chairman of the Board of QXMC, and Marco Bedetti, who has been Resort Manager since April, gave Cortes Currents an overview of what they are doing. 

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