As a farewell to John and Chai Chan, and a celebration of the five-party First Nation ownership of the Red Dog Inn, a gathering there Saturday afternoon took invited guests a trip down memory lane.
“Eight years ago, people said this wasn’t going to happen. Well, here we are today,” said Dean Wilson, who emceed the event. “Across Canada, this is one of the only business ventures to see five First Nations working together.”
The hotel has been owned by five area First Nations–Couchiching, Nicickousemenecaning, Seine River, Rainy River, and Naicatchewenin–since November but Saturday’s ceremony was the official celebration.
William Wilson, a former Rainy River F.N. chief and instrumental player in securing the First Nations co-ownership of the hotel in 1993, spoke at length of the native partnership with Chan.
“In 1992, the offer came up for the Red Dog. The opportunity was there but we didn’t know how to go about buying the place,” he recalled. “One of the first things we did was identify the business interests–the town, the First Nations, the banks, the legal interests.”
With the help of legal advisors Charlie Turcotte and John Erickson, Wilson noted he and the other First Nations parties knew what they had to do–they just had to convince others of their groundbreaking initiative.
“To make it work, the financing from the bank, you have to guarantee success. And while the town’s leadership was very encouraging, it was very cautious,” Wilson said. “But you have to know doing business with Indians was unknown at the time.
“You have to understand it took seven months to bring the package together–crunching numbers, trying to appease the bank, trying to appease First Nation investors,” he continued.
“There was a time when I went to Thunder Bay to fire [Erickson] because I had felt defeated. But he stuck by me, and made me understand we couldn’t stop there.”
Nicickousemenecaning Chief Calvin Morrison also recalled the difficulty of making the venture work. “It was a trying time getting through the system. But working with five communities taught us a lot about compromise,” he said.
After the First Nations partners cemented their co-ownership with Chan, whom Wilson had known for many years before, the latter attributed the Red Dog’s success to the Chans.
“I’d like to thank John and Chai who risked their life savings to make it what it is today,” Wilson said. “We kept reassuring ourselves it could work. It stressed our friendship.
“But it was Chai who always smoothed things over and kept a cool head.”
Several other speakers also offered a few words about the retiring Chan.
“Working with John over the years has been a delight. And one thing I’ll remember, after golfing with him, he’s the only guy who exceeds the maximum numbers of clubs allowed in a golf bag,” Dean Wilson quipped.
Red Dog president Judy Morrison said she also enjoyed working with the Chans. “It’s going to be difficult working here without them–they’ve been a fixture here for years,” she stressed.
But while others couldn’t seem to talk enough about spending the past eight years with Chan, the man himself kept his speech humbly brief.
“I’m really grateful for all the directors and staff I’ve worked with–native or not,” he remarked. “It was a wonderful partnership, and very gratifying.”
With Chan giving up the reins, Morrison formally introduced the Red Dog’s new manager, Tammy Hayward, whom she noted Chan had been “grooming” for the position for the past few months.
“I’m honoured, and I hope we can continue to keep things running so well. We have a very good business here and I don’t think anything will be changing here anytime soon,” Hayward told those on hand.
A plaque commemorating the First Nations’ purchase of the Red Dog now hangs in the hotel lobby.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
