113 Oceanview Drive • Box 652 • Queen Charlotte, BC • V0T 1S0 T. 250.559.8050 • edo@mieds.ca • www.mieds.ca

2014 - 2015 ANNUAL REPORT April, 2015

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Message from the Chair To be inserted

The Society The MIEDS Board and full-time staff for the 2015-2016 year are as follows: Andrew Merilees – Chair, Village of Masset Mike Racz – Vice Chair, SQCRD Area D Sabrina Frazier – Secretary/Treasurer, Village of Queen Charlotte Bill Beldessi – Director, SQCRD Area E Doug Daugert – Director, Village of Port Clements Cameron Bell – Economic Development Officer Mary Lou Von Niessen – Administrative Assistant/Tourism Coordinator

MIEDS has recently undergone a staffing turnover following Heather Adel’s departure in August of 2014. Cameron Bell started work as the new Economic Development Officer in December 2014. Mary Lou Von Niessen continued MIEDS’ operations through the fall, with support from additional contracted employee on the Love Haida Gwaii program. Having spent a few weeks learning about MIEDS programs and history, Cameron looks forward to making progress on new and existing initiatives. This report includes work conducted by Heather, Mary Lou, and Cameron, as well as part-time staff and MIEDS Board members.

The Report MIEDS has now completed its second full year planning cycle, as identified in the organization’s Three Year Strategy. The 2014/15 Annual Report includes the initiatives and measurables from the 2014/15 Annual Plan, and the results achieved this year. Each initiative fits within the Three Year Strategy and includes measurables for each project. Through this report, MIEDS evaluates the success of this fiscal year.

Introduction

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Our Mission “To work with individuals, businesses, stakeholders, governments, communities and potential investors to coordinate, collaborate and implement island wide economic development initiatives aimed at increasing employability, employment and/or jobs for the people of Haida Gwaii.”

Our Mandate To support the development of a sustainable and diversified economy for all residents of Haida Gwaii by: Providing leadership in business attraction, retention and expansion; Actively addressing barriers to development; Developing and supporting initiatives that strengthen the economic

capacity of the islands and/or of islanders; Providing a link to regional and provincial economic development

initiatives; Engaging in workforce and business development initiatives; Being accountable and transparent as an organization

STRATEGIC GOALS

Goal 1

To increase collaboration and communication within industry and between governments

Goal 2 To increase employment and employability of islanders

Goal 3 To decrease barriers to development

MISSION and MANDATE

“Economic Development is any project or initiative that

prompts, demonstrates or contributes to long term

income sustainability, job creation, skill development,

community or individual capacity building, or

sustainable growth for the benefit of all island

communities.”

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Objective: Coordinate a unified voice for industry,

businesses and member communities.

Results MIEDS collected feedback from businesses and individuals on Haida Gwaii to assess the impact of service reductions on BC Ferries Routes 11 (to Prince Rupert) and 26 (to Alliford Bay). This anecdotal information was used to produce the Report on the Effects of the 2014 BC Ferries Service Cuts to Haida Gwaii in September, 2014. This Report showed enormous impacts in the categories of Freight, Reservations, Health Care, Tourism, and Business. The Report was presented to several provincial representatives at the UBCM conference in September 2014, including the Ministers of Transportation, Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training. MIEDS has engaged with our airline service providers to some extent over the past year. Preliminary discussions around Pacific Coastal’s schedule took place with representatives from Northern Health, Skidegate, and Old Masset in summer 2014. The islands were briefly served by a direct flight between Masset and Terrace provided by Air Tindi from approximately October to December, 2014. Ongoing communication with our airline providers is important to improving transportation on Haida Gwaii.

Initiative On behalf of all islands communities, deliver communications to governments, agencies and businesses in response to issues pertaining to economic development on the islands. Measurables Report on how the BC Ferries schedule changes have affected all

Islanders Documented discussions with Air Canada and Pacific Coastal regarding

service reductions

Unified voice for island issues (Goal 1, Collaboration and communication)

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Objective: Support the growth and sustainability of the

island forest industry. Initiative Facilitate the operationalization of the community forest volume.

A. Develop a business structure to ensure the communities collectively obtain ownership and control of the corporation with minimal risk and maximum benefit.

B. Work with the Province of British Columbia to advance the development of the community forest project to the point of signing the Community Forest Agreement.

Measurables

A - Creation of a draft corporate structure for the community forest - Adoption of the draft corporate structure by the communities - Creation of the legal documents - Finalization of the corporation B - Community consultation for the community forest proposal - Obtaining an Offer to Apply for a Community Forest Agreement - Creation of a management plan - Submit to the Province for review and approval - Signing of the Community Forest Agreement

Results A proposed structure for the Community Forest Corporation was developed by the Renaissance Group Chartered Accountants, with assistance from Murphy and Company Law Corporation. This structure involves a Community Trust as an intermediary between the municipalities and the forest corporation. MIEDS continued to work with the Ministry of FLNRO and BCTS, but was not able to sign a Community Forest Agreement this year. The Williams (Tsilhqot’in) Ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada set a new precedent for aboriginal title, and the Province temporarily withdrew from negotiations to assess the impact of this ruling. Staff turnover within MIEDS also delayed CF work, but Cameron has established contact and working relationships with most of the necessary partners.

COMMUNITY FOREST (Goal 2, employment and employability)

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The final structure of the CF is yet to be determined. Meetings with the CHN and the Forestry Strategy Forum in April 2015 will continue to build momentum towards signing the CFA. Creating the Corporation, consulting the public, drafting the management plan, and securing support for the CF will be priorities in 2015/16.

Objective: Support the growth of the tourism industry.

Results The SOAR ads and Lure Brochures were designed and printed as planned. We also purchased advertising space for GoHaidaGwaii.ca in the Guide to Haida Gwaii and BC Ferries’ OnBoard magazine. We have continued building our photo bank with images from local photographers, although we are still seeking images of some remote locations on Haida Gwaii. We participated in the “Northern BC Road Trip” contest through NBCTA and the Canada Winter Games, and awarded a trip to Haida Gwaii to the contest winner. The GoHaidaGwaii business directory and artist directory continues to expand. Planning for a redesigned website is underway, and the new website should be launched before summer 2015. Social Media Following the very successful ‘win a trip to Haida Gwaii’ website contest and the website interactive media contest, visitor traffic to our Haida Gwaii Tourism Facebook page and Go Haida Gwaii Facebook page continues to increase significantly. Website traffic is reported at 80% Canada, 14% US, 1.4% UK and 1% Germany. Our Facebook followers demonstrate a similar distribution (80% Canada, 7% US, 1% UK and 1% Germany.

Initiative Grow destination awareness through enhanced online, social media, print and mobile initiatives. Measurables

Increased online traffic to website, Facebook and Twitter Increased number of information requests Completion of the business and artists directories Meet or exceed the number of participants in the online contests Four complete SOAR ads for submission

TOURISM (Goal 2, employment and employability)

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Trip Planning We receive a steady amount of email enquiries re: trip planning with most planning a visit within a year of the enquiry. We have had an increasing number of enquiries regarding visits in the fall and winter months. Stats to date:

2012: 4 requests for trip planning assistance 2013: 70 requests for trip planning assistance / 25 multiple responses/ 3 class visits (15, 40 & 40) with meals and tours purchased locally and accommodation for the bus drivers 2014: 111 requests for trip planning assistance / 55 multiple responses / 2 school trips (1 cancelled last minute b/c strike) / trip planning requests from Belgium and Austria 2015 to date (March 20): 50 requests for trip planning assistance / 18 multiple responses / 1 school tour (40 people) / trip planning requests from Sweden, Austria, Germany, Kansas City and one drop in visitor from Japan

Partnerships MIEDS in partnership with Gwaalagaa Naay Corporation & Parks Canada (Gwaii Haanas) promoted awareness of Haida Gwaii as a visitor destination at the Canada Winter Games. Following Winter Games, the partnership shared the costs of a very successful promotion at the Vancouver Outdoor Adventure Tradeshow. We hope to continue developing these partnerships in the future. MIEDS also established a new working relationship with the Haida Gwaii Observer, now owned by Black Press. The Guide to Haida Gwaii will be posted on GoHaidaGwaii.ca, and their old website will be deactivated. This collaboration will help potential visitors find the information they need on one comprehensive website.

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Objective: Assist small businesses in strengthening their marketability. Initiative Create and support business development initiatives.

A. Brand creation support for local food producers, products and farmers markets – work with the local producers to create a logo and marketing materials that will identify them as certified Haida Gwaii local.

B. Professional photo shoot – small businesses are encouraged to contact MIEDS to arrange a photo shoot of their business with a professional photographer. For a small fee the business will receive full access and sizing of five photos of their businesses.

C. Launch the Love Haida Gwaii local business program. Measurables

A - Support and participation by Haida Gwaii local producers - Development of a logo and marketing materials - Creation of eligibility criteria developed by producers to

consistently identify what is considered local - The widespread use of the new marketing materials B - Increase number of businesses that participate in the initiative

over 2013/2014 - A number of enhanced small business websites and advertising

using the professional photos C - Attendance by Islanders at the community information meetings - Participation by 40 island businesses in the program - Launch of the LoveHaidaGwaii website

Results Local Food Branding Beginning in January 2015, MIEDS and GIECFI began planning for the creation and promotion of a logo and brand for locally produced food on Haida Gwaii. Funding from the Investment Agriculture Foundation has been approved, which will be used to print stickers, product labels, signage, and other branded materials. The selection of a logo through an open contest and public vote is currently underway. Our criteria to define “local food” is

Business Development (Goal 2, employment and employability)

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modeled after IAF’s requirements; any food harvested on Haida Gwaii, or any processed food using at least 85% ingredients from BC. We look forward to producing and promoting these branded materials in the 2015 growing season. Small Business Support (Business Photo Initiative) With the launch of Love Haida Gwaii, a separate project to provide business photography became unnecessary. We encourage businesses to sign up for Love Haida Gwaii to obtain professional photos of their businesses (see below). Our office continues to provide support to small businesses in other areas including social media (assisting with set up of Facebook pages, providing instruction in using Facebook etc), as well as minor photocopying, printing, and scanning. We have also assisted small home-based businesses with introductions to local and online services to meet their needs (graphic design, website building/maintenance, ordering business cards, etc.). MIEDS will be hosting a free social media workshop for local entrepreneurs in Masset the morning of the Love Haida Gwaii business tradeshow (May 2015). We have already had positive feedback in anticipation of this business development opportunity. Love Haida Gwaii MIEDS has had an overwhelming response to the Small Town Love / Love Haida Gwaii Program. We currently have over 130 businesses registered, with almost 100 already online. Feedback from Small Town Love has been positive; our website launch and trade show was the best of the 14 launches to date. The response of local businesses is almost unprecedented. We continue to feature our Love Haida Gwaii small businesses on our Facebook page with occasional Love Haida Gwaii website links posted to the Haida Gwaii Tourism page. As a result of the tremendous success of the tradeshow in Oct 2014 and the expressed desire of the vendors to do this regularly, we are planning to offer a north-end trade show in May as well as a south-end trade show in October. It is our intention to raise awareness of the local small businesses as well as provide opportunities for them to sell/promote their services. Community Futures has committed to working with us on both trade show events.

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Objective: Pursue community-specific economic development projects Initiative The individual communities will determine their own project. The initiative will be supported by MIEDS and will be put to Northern Development Initiative Trust to determine eligibility. Measurables

Each community that chooses to work through MIEDS will have measurables specific to their project set out at the beginning so that MIEDS can report on the initiatives next year.

Results The majority of funding allocated to community-specific projects was not consumed. Port Clements used almost $5000 on legal consulting fees for their barge facility proposal. The other communities were unable to find a suitable project within timeline and funding guidelines. Fortunately, the Councils were willing to allocate their remaining funds to MIEDS’ operations, decreasing the seed capital consumed this year. MIEDS will work with each community in the upcoming year to identify and fund individual projects with community-specific benefits.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS