Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Chief Jonathan Kruger joins others at a ribbon cutting

The Penticton Indian Band Development Corporation continues to get recognition for economic strides it has made in recent years.

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business has named the PIB winners of the Aboriginal Economic Development Corporation Award for 2015.

“Congratulations to the Penticton Indian Band Development Corporation for demonstrating the vision and courage in the world of business essential for business success,” said CCAB President and CEO JP Gladu. “The Aboriginal Economic Development Corporation of the Year Award proudly gives all Canadians an opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal business success and its role in creating business certainty and sustainable prosperity.”

The Penticton Indian Band Reserve is the largest reserve in British Columbia- 46,000 acres with a current population of 1,034 members. The  development corporation, PIBDC, is the principal economic development, marketing and promotional organization for the PIB.

It further exists to ensure the certainty of the PIB's traditional values and provide a sustainable economic return.

"It is a huge honour to receive this award and gives us confidence we are doing some really good things here," said PIB Chief Jonathan Kruger. "And I'm proud of our PIBDC for the hard work that they're doing for our community and proud of our community for giving us a strong mandate to move forward.

It is very important to be more self sufficient because government funding doesn't provide for our needs."

Development on PIB land includes the Skaha Hlls development, with recent announcements concerning Phase 2, and the fish hatchery, which was a $9 million project.

More recently, construction began on a bridge across the river channel, and Kruger said they will soon release some of the drawings of what the channel could potentially look like.

"We really want to market those lands and work with locatees along the channel," he said.

Getting to where they are currently at took hard work on the part of the PIB council, according to the chief.

"I want to say I'm really proud of the leadership of our council, taking steps forward for the vision of our community, which takes a lot of hard work," he said. "We are doing great things."