Gitga’at Economic Development Strategy

Date: 2010-2011

EcoPlan helped the Gitga’at First Nation on BC’s north coast formulate a five-year strategy for sustainable economic development. Work included the development of a comprehensive community profile and base-case analysis of current economic opportunities, trends and issues in and along BC’s north coast. The community-based and driven project utilized structured decision-making tools to allow Chief and Council, staff and community members living both on- and off-reserve to develop a shared community economic development vision and to prioritize supporting objectives. The objectives were used to evaluate, filter and ultimately prioritize a series of economic investment and attraction activities that would also help build community capacity. The final strategy ultimately highlighted green energy production (micro-hydro), eco-tourism and micro value-added seafood processing as the top opportunities to pursue.