The Mi’gmaq community of Listuguj is located on the banks of the Restigouche River, in the beautiful Gaspésie region. Things are going quite well in terms of entrepreneurship, since there are about fifty private companies that are active in various sectors. In addition to entrepreneurship, the economic development team is busy working on several projects. Here are a few of them.

Community playground

One of the biggest projects on which Delphine Metallic, the Economic Development Manager, has worked is the upgrading of the playground located just behind the local government offices. Recently, fitness-style equipment has been added to the field, thereby allowing community members to workout outdoors. The youth centre was also expanded, and a roof was built over the rink. A splashpad was installed, which is a beautiful addition to the entire playground/family area.  This project was made possible thanks to the contributions of several of the community’s departments, as well as government funding such as SAA, Canada Economic Development (CIP150) and Hydro Quebec and an investment of $1.5 million.

Tourism Initiative

Listuguj has a lot of tourism potential.  Listuguj recently received funding from the Canada Economic Development and the Secretariat aux affaires autochotones to realize Listuguj’s tourism initiative. A diagnosis will therefore be made to be able to properly identify the development opportunities in the tourism sector. A Tourism Development Advisor, Paige Isaac, was hired to realize this project. Incidentally, in the tourism column on page 9, she presents the project on which she is working.

Hiking Trails

In recent years, the Department of Natural Resources has been working with community members to develop hiking trails called the Gespe’gewa’gi Trails located on Listuguj territory. A small kiosk was built and there are maps showing hikers where they are situated on the trails. It is possible to access the trails through five different entrances. These trails have a certain tourism potential which is why this is currently one of the main focus areas of the Tourism Development Advisor.

Listuguj Entrepreneurship Assistance Fund

Several years ago, the Listuguj Entrepreneurship Assistance Fund (LEAF) was created to assist entrepreneurship. This fund has no longer been in operation for some time, but Delphine Metallic wants to relaunch it. For this purpose, an additional human resource will be joining her team to deliver the services and help entrepreneurs start their businesses or grow existing businesses. Through the LEAF, entrepreneurs can access funding through loans or grants. However, in order to access these funds, future entrepreneurs must first take a course on entrepreneurship. The Economic Development Unit will collaborate with the local human resource agency to design and deliver the courses.

Further information on the Listuguj community can be found at listuguj.ca.

To discover other local economic development projects and initiatives, we invite you to visit our local economic development section.