Indigenous groups partner with Snoop Dogg; Frontier next? ‘If a financial partnership between Kitigan Zibi Anishinbeg and one of the groups bidding to buy the Ottawa Senators materializes, it will mark more than just a win for the NHL team and its fans.
Experts say it could also signal a new era of economic clout for Canada's Indigenous communities after far too long on the sidelines.
Earlier this week, CBC News confirmed that the First Nation near Maniwaki, Que., had been approached by a business group led by Los Angeles-based rapper Neko Sparks and rapper Snoop Dogg and met with them Monday morning.
According to JP Gladu, former president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and current principal of Mokwateh, a private consultancy firm that specializes in facilitating similar partnerships, both sides stand to benefit significantly, particularly if the new owners plan to move the team to a new arena at LeBreton Flats.
The Algonquins of Kitigan Zibi are part of an outstanding title claim filed in 2016 that encompasses a swath of central Ottawa, including LeBreton Flats.
It's to showcase to Canadians that the level and sophistication of Indigenous business in this country is growing. - JP Gladu, Mokwateh
"I think this is a real opportunity for Indigenous communities, particularly Kitigan Zibi, to be able to develop further depth and breadth in business, and I think this is also a wonderful opportunity to flex economic reconciliation in action," said Gladu, a member of Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek on the eastern shores of Lake Nipigon.
"Having the Indigenous people on side certainly is going to weigh in favour of getting the work done in an efficient way," he said. "It's going to be one less regulatory hurdle that a company's going to have to go through when they've got the landholders and rights holders onside."