by Marc Laframboise MMNN Contributor

Located in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia on the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes overlooking the Skye Mountain range is the beautiful community of We’koqma’q. A little over a decade ago, the leaders of this Mi’kmaw community had a dream. Now that dream has turned into a major economic development driving force for the community generating substantial revenue and jobs for community members.

Following years of hard work and planning, the community has built a strong, sustainable, vertically integrated trout aquaculture business comprised of a hatchery, the trout farm and a modern, state-of-the-art processing plant. Interim Chief John Leonard Bernard remembers the early days: “It was a learning experience for all of us. Everybody worked hard and we had our ups and downs. Now we look back with great pride on a business achievement that is bringing great benefits to our community now and for generations to come.”

It all started with the trout farm and the purchase of an aging fish processing plant in Aberdeen. The aquaculture open-net pens were installed in-community on Bras d’Or Lake. As the construction phase moved forward, plans were being made to completely refurbish the processing plant. Approximately two years later, the work was completed at the processing plant. Slowly but surely, mature trout raised at the trout farm were ready to be processed at the plant and sold.

To complete the vertical integration of the business, the community recently ...

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