Organizational Theory Case Study

Over the last decade, British Columbia's Osoyoos Band has been on an economic tear. With nine businessesincluding the year-old Desert Cultural Centregoing strong, and an entrepreneurial chief unafraid to shun tradition, it's no wonder there are more jobs than band members. A case study in self-sustainability.

Evening light pours across the land like a thick golden liquid and the shadows grow long. Waves of bunch grass morph between yellow, saffron and deep magenta as the sun dips toward Kobau Mountain across the valley.

In the softening light, tiny yellow flowers become visible on the twisted branches of antelope brush, a stoic desert plant that sends deep tap roots into the seared earth of the south Okanagan in search of moisture. Lofty Ponderosa pines, with their fire-protective skins of thick bark, gather in shallow draws like old men stopping to chat about the weather.

Moments ago on this pleasant May evening, I was relaxing with my feet up in a plush spa resort condo. Now I walk gingerly amongst the antelope brush, alert for clumps of prickly pear cactus or perhaps the venomous Western rattlesnake coiled and concealed somewhere underfoot.

If you could project the cartoon setting of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote into some kind of three-dimensional, metaphysical reality, it might resemble this extraordinary landscape, right here in Canada's desert country in the south Okanagan. Home to myriad fascinating rare plant and animal species, this is also the traditional territory of the Osoyoos people, an upstart Native band that is striking an enterprising balance between their traditional roots and a progressive approach to economic development that is the talk of Canada's aboriginal community and the tourism industry at large.

Admittedly, vineyards, golf courses, spa hotels and RV parks aren't exactly hallmarks of traditional Native culture, but the Osoyoos Indian Band has no problem keeping one foot in the past while striding confidently forward with the other.

One year ago, the band celebrated the opening of the deluxe Nk'Mip (pronounced "ink-a-meep") Desert Cultural Centre, showcasing both the flora and fauna of the region and the ingenuity of an ancient culture that flourished here for millennia. With a $9-million price tag mostly paid for with government grants, this 12,000-square-foot facility houses interpretive displays, a theatre and a rattlesnake research program, forming the cultural cornerstone of an extensive tourist development that includes a golf course, the award-winning Nk'Mip Wine Cellars and the Spirit Ridge Resort and Spa, my home for the past several days.

"We're not perfect. This centre has been talked about since the early '90s and a lot of debate went into this, but we're proud of the result," explains Clarence Louie, the tough-talking entrepreneurial chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band. "It was worth the time and effort to advance and preserve our heritage and culture."

Though the Osoyoos are proud of their past, they're not content to be simply a museum culture. They're growing a business empire. By striving for economic self-sufficiency, the 450-strong band is slowly overcoming some of the social ills of drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment and the crippling dependence fostered over years on spoon-fed, ill-conceived government handouts and programs. Capitalizing on its south Okanagan location, the Osoyoos Indian Band is setting a high benchmark for Native entrepreneurship in the local economy. The band owns nine businesses with annual revenues of $14.5 million, marking significant growth from 1997 when revenues were a mere $1.45 million.

[In 2006], Chief Louie and his economic team penned a unique agreement with the Province of British Columbia that will accommodate the development of nearby Mount Baldylocated on traditional band landinto a destination resort by its owners, Idaho-based Winter Recreation ULC. The band also has a small 2.5 percent equity in the Mt. Baldy Ski Corporation and is close to inking a deal with Bellstar Resorts and Hotels Inc. to buy a 25 percent share in its Spirit Ridge development. With all its business holdings, the band creates more jobs than it has working-age band members, a fact Chief Louie is fond of trumpeting during speeches to other Native bands, government bureaucrats and business leaders.

Four years ago, Alberta-based Bellstar decided to seriously consider a desert country investment after witnessing the Osoyoos Indian Band's efforts to balance economic development with cultural and ecological conservation. Last fall, Bellstar completed the $23-million first phase of its Spirit Ridge Spa and Resort complex, all on leased band land. The next phase, worth roughly $50 million, will bring the total number of resort suites and villas to 226, complete with conference facilities and a business centre.

"We liked how the chief spoke about business. The band council was willing to listen but they never strayed from their vision of economic development," says Ed Romanewski, president and CEO of Bellstar, over the phone from his Calgary office.

"Frankly, in our previous experience with Indian bands, we didn't see that kind of focus. We saw this as a great investment in a truly unique part of Canada." To understand where the Osoyoos people are today, you need to dust off the history books and gaze into their pastand at the landscape that has defined them.

Their tenacity and pride has roots that date back to well before the tourist town of Osoyoos sprang up on the shores of its namesake lake, now buzzing with powerboats and Jet Skis. In 1915, when aboriginal culture was being torn asunder by the residential school and reservation system, then-Osoyoos chief Baptiste George stood firm. With uncanny foresight, he persuaded the federal government of the day to allow the band to build and manage its own school. Seven months later, the Nk'Mip Day School welcomed its first students. In the early years, the school struggled to retain teachers, opening and closing its doors as overwhelmed instructors came and went. Then in 1932, a visionary young man named Anthony Walsh arrived at the school. It was a fortuitous meeting.

Given the troubled times of white-Native politics, Walsh had unusual empathy toward indigenous culture. Rather than suppress the Native language and traditional values of his young pupils, he encouraged them. Subsequently, Osoyoos culture flowered during Walsh's tenure. This unique synergy between student and teacher reached far beyond the sleepy backwater of the south Okanagan. Thanks to Walsh's knack for promotion, in 1936 a Nativity scene painted on buckskin by young Francis Baptiste was singled out for distinction at the Royal Drawing Society's Annual Exhibition at London's Guildhall Gallery. The following year, a portfolio of drawings and sketches by Osoyoos youth depicting ancient and modern Osoyoos life was shown at the Cizek Juvenile Art Centre in Vienna. Then, in 1938, Walsh toured Europe, exhibiting the children's work in Dublin, London, Glasgow and Paris.

Today the legacy of these precocious Osoyoos youngsters lives on in a new exhibit at the Nk'Mip Centre, where visitors get a taste of the south Okanagan beyond beach blankets and wine tours.

"The centre is here to serve the community, but also to share in the rich living culture of the Okanagan people," says manager Charlotte Sanders, adding that it exceeded first-year expectations by welcoming more than 12,750 visitors [in 2006].

There's no question, scientists across Canada recognize traditional Osoyoos land as a threatened biological treasure, home to more at-risk species than any other ecosystem in British Columbia. Not surprisingly, people are naturally drawn to the pleasant Okanagan climate and its proximity to lakes and beaches. Golf courses, vineyards, resorts and urban development sprawl across a landscape once blanketed in sage and antelope brush. The Osoyoos Natives have also seen fit to bulldoze sections of the desert to make way for vineyards, fairways and condos. Chief Louie doesn't apologize.

"Conservation of the desert is important but we also need to develop land, create jobs and generate revenue for our people. If this land wasn't in Osoyoos band hands, I bet every square inch of this desert would be developed," Chief Louie says with characteristic candor.

In what's left of the desert, like the land adjacent to the Nk'Mip Centre, extreme temperatures and severe aridity combine to create one of the country's most unusual and rich ecosystems. There is nothing frivolous or extravagant about life here. It lacks the exuberance and fecundity of a West Coast rainforest, yet its riches and subtleties are revealed upon closer inspection. Like, for example, the curious tapestry of lichens and mosses underfoot, known in scientific circles as the sci-fi-sounding "cryptogamic crust." Essential for maintaining sensitive soil structures and preserving moisture, this crust is so sensitive that it can be destroyed by an afternoon of grazing Herefords, rendering this biological marvel irreparable. At-risk species like the Western rattlesnake, the spadefoot toad, the burrowing owl and even the antelope brush also cling to a precarious existence.

"There are so many species here that are at the margins of their habitat," says Bob Lincoln, retired wildlife branch manager for the B.C. Environment Ministry's Okanagan Region and a full-time conservation activist. "It's also one of the richest areas because you can go from aquatic to riparian to desert to cliffs in a span of a few kilometres."

As I hike through this surreal landscape of cactus, snakes and sagebrush next to the Nk'Mip Centre, I ponder life in an environment like this. It's spring and a recent rainfall has infused the land with a freshness that could be misleading. During summer, temperatures frequently soar into the punishing mid-40C range; enough to wilt even the hardiest desert traveller. Just as the stubborn flora and fauna of the south Okanagan persevere in the extremes, the Osoyoos people have survived and are now making their distinct mark on the future of Canada's aboriginal peoples.

Questions

1)How does the Osoyoos band integrate its traditions with its businesses?

2)How has the Osoyoos band changed the paradigm of development?