Good morning. Tansi, edlanet’e.
As introduced, my name is Tina Rasmussen. I'm a member of the Flying Dust First Nation, and I'm a corporate development and administration officer with MLTC Industrial Investments.
Thank you for inviting MLTC to present today.
The Meadow Lake Tribal Council, or MLTC, is located in northwest Saskatchewan. Our traditional territory spans from central Saskatchewan to the Northwest Territories border, on the western side of the province. We are made up of nine first nations, four of which are Dene-speaking and five of which are Cree-speaking.
MLTCII is the incorporated economic development arm of the tribal council. I'll give you a little bit of history about our organization.
In 1988, the leadership of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council invested in a dimensional sawmill located in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. They understood the potential to raise the first nations communities up through a local economic development opportunity using a local resource that grows on our traditional lands and the huge opportunity to develop indigenous employment in the forestry sector.
Through the years of ownership, the chiefs remained diligent in their determination to create a world-class forestry operation. In 1998, they purchased the remaining shares in the company to make it 100% indigenous owned.
Today the tribal council, through its economic development corporation, MLTC Industrial Investments, continues to operate the 100% indigenous-owned sawmill, NorSask Forest Products, which is a softwood lumber producer. NorSask produces 150-million board feet of dimensional lumber per year and has annual gross revenues of approximately $60 million.
The lion's share of the lumber produced—