Follow-up to this article: see 2010-06-26 and 2010-11-01.
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We will have to figure out a strategy around this.
You will see in the article that Whitecap Development Corp (First Nations) “is trying to obtaining licensing rights” for “an unmanned vehicle for military .. use”.
Drones that drop bombs come to mind.
So I wonder, is it the case that Lockheed Martin produces what it wants by offering “licensing rights” to First Nations people? Playing the sensitivity to First Nations card? It can circumvent potential local hostility by using First Nations’ need to raise themselves out of poverty?
The American military-industrial complex marches into Saskatchewan. How ironic – I’m on trial because of Lockheed Martin and now here they are in my backyard.
Regina Leader Post (also in the S’toon Star Phoenix)
Business park in the works
By Cassandra Kyle, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service April 10, 2010
The Whitecap Dakota First Nation could see construction start within a year on an industrial business park housing aerospace and defence companies on its land south of Saskatoon.
Darrell Balkwill, chief economic officer with the Whitecap Development Corp. (WDC), said Friday 40 acres of land have been set aside at the intersection of Chief Whitecap Trail and Dakota Dunes Way for the development of the first phase of the Whitecap Trail Business Park. The initial stages of the project could create 50 jobs and 10 new businesses on the First Nation, but first, the WDC wants an assessment done on the feasibility of the project.
“There’s a number of companies out there doing research on technology but then need to move to the commercialization stage and we think we can offer them that type of thing,” Balkwill said.
Lynne Yelich, Blackstrap MP and minister of state for Western Economic Diversification, announced $92,000 in federal funding toward the assessment of the business park at a news conference Friday at the Dakota Dunes Casino.
The WDC is putting $58,000 toward the assessment.
Balkwill said a third-party consultant will likely be in place within two weeks. The study’s recommendations will be in the WDC’s hands two to three months later, he added.
The CEO hopes the proposed industrial park will be able to build off the relationships in place between the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology and aerospace and defence companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
“We’re thinking that now that those companies have a presence here maybe we can piggy-back on that for manufacturing and production,” he said.
The WDC, Balkwill added, has already been in discussions with Lockheed Martin, a United States-based global security and information technology business that reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion US.
Company representatives will be travelling to the First Nation to look at the potential of the proposed business park, Balkwill explained. Lockheed Martin is also interested in viewing a demonstration of an unmanned vehicle for military and industrial use for which the WDC (INSERT: Whitecap Development Corp) is trying to obtaining licensing rights.
“We’re going to be doing a trade show in August in Denver and all the (aerospace and defence) companies will be there and that’s the opportunity for us to kind of showcase what we have and attract them from there,” he said.
Construction work on the industrial park could begin as early as spring 2011, if the assessment is returned with positive recommendations, Balkwill said.
Meanwhile, he said details will be released soon about a hotel project set to be attached to the casino.
Balkwill said despite the upcoming addition of a number of new hotels in the region, consultancy reports show demand is high enough for another hotel development in the area.
“There definitely is demand for another hotel in the region, specifically a destination hotel in a resort setting like Dakota Dunes,” he said.
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