In the past few years, the Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki (GCNWA) has developed a wide range of services which include a variety of technical services, territorial consultation services, social services, etc.

Services provided by the GCNWA are not exclusive to the communities of Wôlinak and Odanak. In fact, the communities of Listuguj, Gesgapegiag, Rapid Lake and Kanesatake use our services on a regular basis. One of the important benefits offered by the GCNWA to its clientele is its knowledge of the First Nations environment and its regulation.  This knowledge allows them to carry out work while giving consideration to the environment, the culture and the values of the communities.

In 2017-2018, all contracted services enabled the GCNWA to achieve revenues of 8 M$. Given that it’s a non-profit organization, all profits then made are reinvested in its operations and in the two Abenaki communities.  Following is an overview of services offered by the two main departments of the GCNWA.

Technical Services

The Technical Services Department offers services in municipal engineering, architecture, building mechanics, construction supervision, etc. Communities may also call upon their services for constructing buildings. Recently, they have built a school in Listuguj and they will soon start working on a large contract in the Mohawk community of Kanesatake. The technical services team also traveled to Kahnawake to inspect buildings, and occasionally, they get contracts from cities and municipalities in Quebec.

Ndakinna Office

The Ndakinna Office is the department of territorial consultations of the GCNWA. Initially, it was created to manage the various consultation requests the GCNWA receives annually. In its first year of activities, the department had only one employee, compared to now, with a team of 10 staff persons. In addition to territorial consultations, Ndakinna Office offers archeological services, which enable them to get contracts from Parks Canada. With all this going on, the Ndakinna Office generates approximately 1 M$ in revenues every year.

Other departments of the GCNWA are also very active, such as the First Nations Child and Family Services, a program that provides support to communities in the area of social aid.  In summary, the service delivery of the GCNWA is well developed and at the moment, contracts are being refused, not because of lack of expertise, but rather because of lack of workspaces in its offices of Wôlinak. To remedy the situation, an extension will soon be built.

Further information on the Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki can be found at gcnwa.com.

To discover other projects and initiatives to support First Nations members, we invite you to visit our community support section.