Indigenous Companies Reflect on 25-Year Participation in the NWT Diamond Mining Industry
16 April 2025
Yellowknife, NT. April 16, 2025.] In 2023, three regional Indigenous Development Corporations (IDCs) accounted for 355 local Indigenous jobs and $104 million in revenues from the Northwest Territories’ diamond mines.
Over the last 25 years, Det’on Cho Group of Companies, T??ch? Investment Corporation, and Metcor Inc. have built award-winning business capacity, including capital and skilled labour, through contracts with NWT diamond mines. As these IDCs look to the future, they see the opportunity to use this capacity to support nation-building infrastructure and ensure long-term employment opportunities, community benefits and support.
Commissioned by T??ch? Investment Corporation, Det’on Cho Group of Companies, and Metcor Inc., economist Graeme Clinton has analyzed the impact of the diamond mines on their companies and respective communities – T??ch? Government, Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and North Slave Métis Alliance. The goal of the project was to estimate the contribution of labour and capital from within the three groups to the three existing NWT diamond mines.
Highlights of the findings include:
• 355 Indigenous jobs, including direct, indirect, and induced (or community-based service jobs associated with the diamond industry) by individuals living in Yellowknife, Ndil?, Dettah, and the four T??ch? communities of Behchok??, Whatì, Wekweètì, and Gamètì.
• $39.6 million in annual employment income for local Indigenous residents.
• $104 million in annual revenues to the IDCs, representing 36% of the total spent by the diamond mines in the NWT business community.
In total, the three IDCs, and Denesoline Corporation, which is wholly owned by the members of ?utsël K’e Dene First Nation, employ over 675 individuals within the Northwest Territories. With support from the diamond mines, the capacity developed by IDCs’ businesses has enabled them to complete increasingly complex projects. The multi-year T??ch? housing initiative, NSMA Métis Community Freezer-Meat Processing Facility, and Det’on Cho Logistics’ expansion into Nunavut and Saskatchewan all exemplify this growth.
Marc Whitford, President of North Slave Métis Alliance – Metcor Inc.; Paul Gruner, Chief Executive Officer of T??ch? Investment Corporation; Mark Lewis, President and CEO of Det’on Cho Group of Companies; and Leigh-Anne Palter, Chief Executive Officer of Denesoline Corporation, issued a joint statement on the report:
“This report crystallizes the progress towards Economic Reconciliation made over the last twenty-five years through our relationships with NWT diamond mines to build capacity for corporations, develop our employees, create shareholder value for our members, and make direct investments in our respective communities.” It continued, “We recognize immense opportunities to preserve and build upon this foundation and retain skilled Northerners in the North to work on the much-needed infrastructure that will create opportunities for the region, fortify Arctic sovereignty, and improve the lives of Northerners.”
