For the Indigenous Prosperity Centre, kelp isn’t just slimy stuff found on ocean beaches.
It’s a raw material that can be used for everything from vegan jelly to bricks that are stronger and lighter than concrete and even medical products.
“A lot of the things that you can do with hemp can also be done with kelp,” says executive director Christina Clarke.
The centre is using a $15,000 grant from the Victoria Foundation’s Spark Funds program to work with the University of Victoria’s Indigenous Economics Cluster to plot out all the Indigenous businesses on the south Island in a “community asset map” — including those with a focus on kelp, Clarke said.
Spark Funds are aimed at projects that focus on such things as affordability and sustainability.
“We have an aligned interest in wanting to further the economic goals of First Nations,” Clarke said.
Clarke said there are 75 businesses in the South Island Indigenous Business Directory, most of them in the capital region.
The directory was created in partnership with the South Island Prosperity Partnership — the centre’s parent group — the CRD, the City of Victoria, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.
Vendors at the Songhees Nation’s inaugural South Island Powwow on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation were told about the directory, which contains a wide variety of businesses, Clarke said.
“There’s technology companies, there’s consultancies, there’s artists, a denturist, there’s multiple construction companies.”
The centre is using a GIS map, a podcast and a newsletter to spread the word about them, Clarke said.
“On this community-asset map you’ll be able to see where all these Indigenous businesses are and where all the First Nations are on the south Island.”
After that, a second phase using more data will start, perhaps concentrating more on looking for opportunities in such areas as the “blue economy” — enterprises related to the marine environment.
The prospects for kelp — which is already part of a venture in the Tsawout Nation — was one of the topics discussed at a July workshop at the Victoria Scottish Community Centre, Clarke said. The Tsawout Nation granted a licence to Cascadia Seaweed in 2021 to grow kelp and alaria, another type of edible seaweed, in its territorial waters off James Island.
The workshop led to “a strong interest in kelp for things like habitat restoration,” Clarke said, and included restoring traditional kelp beds that have been “deforested.”
“We talked about what if we put the kelp back and studied how that changes the ecosystem,” she said. “We’d love to do an applied-research project to reforest with kelp.”
The idea for the centre came up during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the South Island Prosperity Partnership was studying several sectors of the economy — including the Indigenous sector.
Indigenous businesses cited concerns such as lack of access to capital and training opportunities and the need for more public awareness of what they do.
“Those are the main themes that caused us to form,” Clarke said. “The Indigenous Prosperity is part of our recovery from COVID.”
