A SHORT HISTORY OF JOINT VENTURES

Joint venturesJoint Venture: commonly, a business to which two or more parties contribute the essential land, capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases., and services, in return for a share in its ownership and control. (Note: the Joint Venture is very strictly defined under Canadian law.) became common in the United States in the 1970s. Since 1980, they have attracted the attention of a great many Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal Development Corporations (ADCs) in Canada too.

Joint Ventures are a strategy that businesses use to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive economy. The firm that acts alone cannot easily integrate all the capitalCapital: cash, property, equipment, services, and contracts or leases., technology, and skills needed to handle complex opportunities and rapidly changing circumstances. Even large companies nowadays use Joint Ventures to fill gaps in their capacity that would otherwise keep out of reach some highly rewarding business opportunities.

One of the pioneers of Joint Ventures in Aboriginal communities was Kitsaki Development Corporation, the business arm of the La Ronge Indian Band in northern Saskatchewan. Starting in 1984, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Bill Hatton, Kitsaki used Joint Ventures to gain a substantial role and benefits in mining and other strategic economic sectors. Many of the things learned from that experience, and published in the book Aboriginal Joint Ventures Negotiating Successful Partnerships (Centre for Community Enterprise, 1993), are reproduced in the Aboriginal Mining Guide.