For First Nation Communities, Organizations & Indigenous Enterprises
Experienced help, on your terms. Alongside, not in place of.
Chiefs, Councils, Economic Development Officers, Band Managers, and Indigenous-owned organizations: Willow-ICS gives you experienced help that gets things done — not just plans on paper. You set the direction. We work at your pace. And when the work is done, your team keeps the skills and systems we built together.
Trust comes first.
Thirty years has taught us this: when leadership brings in outside help, the real question is trust. You need someone who knows how communities make decisions, respects that the Nation stays in control, has done this work before, and will never put leadership in a bad spot.
- We work at your pace. Chief and Council decisions take time, and we respect your process — we never push past it.
- Help with the opportunities already on your desk — partnership offers, contracts, joint ventures, and funding programs that are stuck because no one has time to work on them.
- We watch for new opportunities for your community — and we warn you about the ones that would cost more than they bring in.
- When a company comes to your territory, you get an advisor who knows how these companies think — because companies hire us too. And we have turned down deals that would not still look good ten years from now.
- Extra hands when your team is stretched — and it is Darrel doing the work, not a junior sent in his place.
- When we leave, your team keeps the skills, the tools, and the systems.
Which of these is on your table right now?
Nations don't call us about a "service." They call because something real is in front of them. Most Nations have strong people — what's missing is time, not talent. Find your situation below. That's where the first conversation starts.
"There's an opportunity in front of us — and no capacity to move it."
A partnership offer. A contract. A funding deadline. It sits there because everyone who could deal with it already has three jobs. We dig into it, set it up properly, and push it across the finish line — with the community's control written into the papers, not just promised in a meeting.
Deals & Business Structures →"A mining company is at our door."
Before you sign anything — or even take the second meeting — get advice from someone who sees both sides of these deals. We help with consultation and benefit agreements, and we give you our honest read: the risks, the numbers, and what we would ask for. Then the decision stays where it belongs — with you.
When a Company Comes Calling →"Money comes into the community and leaves the same week."
Outside contractors win the jobs. Outside companies run the programs. The money leaves and it doesn't come back. We build the setups that keep it home — buying power, community-owned businesses, and Nations teaming up to purchase together.
Keeping Money Home →"Council needs a decision package, and my team is stretched across five jobs."
We prepare what Council needs to decide: clear briefing packages, plans, and recommendations — professional work, ready when you need it, without hiring more permanent staff.
Council Packages & Plans →"The funding exists — but the applications never get written."
Every year, funding goes unclaimed because no one has time to write the applications. We find the right programs, write the applications, and often set things up so the funding pays for most — sometimes all — of our work too.
Funding & Capital →"Our organization is growing past what our systems can handle."
Websites that actually bring in business, systems that keep track of your contacts and projects, newsletters and community updates — the tools of a much bigger organization, without hiring a tech team.
Websites & Systems →"A mine is coming to our territory — and we want to own the businesses that supply it."
Camp services, crew transport, workforce housing, labour supply, laundry and linen: the mine and its contractors will buy all of it for twenty years from someone. We structure Nation-owned companies to win that work, bring in capital partners when the Nation has none, and write the exit so the Nation ends up owning all of it.
Nation-Owned Ventures →Don't see your situation? Most engagements start with something that doesn't fit a category. That's what the discovery call is for.
- Never both sides of the same file. If a company has hired us on a project, we will not work for your Nation on that same project. Ever.
- We tell you who hired us, in the first conversation. If we arrive with a company, we say so, and we tell you to get your own advisor.
- We never take money from the company across the table from you. Not a fee, not a contribution toward your costs, nothing.
- We have walked away from deals, and the fees that came with them, when they would not still look good ten years from now.
These rules are written into our engagement letters. Read all five →
When a mine is coming, own the supply chain.
How we structure it
A new mine spends for decades on things its own people do not do: housing and feeding crews, moving them, washing their linen, supplying labour, hauling and storing equipment. Most of that money leaves the region on the first truck out. It does not have to.
- Nations hold 51% or more of every venture that sells to the mine. That ownership is what wins the contracts under benefit agreements and federal procurement rules, and it is real: control, not a front.
- Capital comes from a partner when the Nation has none. A larger Nation’s development corporation, Indigenous lenders, or the mine itself. The capital partner is repaid first; the Nation’s share is earned, not bought.
- Willow develops and manages for a fee, and holds a minority stake with a fixed buyout formula, so the Nation can own 100% on a schedule it chooses.
- A regional table comes first. Nations that deal with the mine with one voice get better agreements, consultation capacity funding, and the first call on the work.
- Every venture is built to sell or to hold: contracts with the mine’s contractors, clean books from day one, and an exit written on day one.
Development that leaves the Nation stronger. Permanently.
When a resource project comes to a territory, the story can go two ways. In the usual version, the money comes and goes in the same breath. Outside contractors do the work. Outside companies keep the profits. When the project ends, the community is left about where it started. We call that economic migration — and stopping it is the standard Nations set, and the one we build every deal against.
In the version we work toward, the deal is built so the value stays. Money earned in the community gets spent and re-spent in the community — and shared with neighbouring Nations too. Jobs turn into careers. Contracts build Nation-owned businesses. Project money builds lasting things: housing, training, systems, infrastructure. And the know-how stays long after the project ends. That is economic reconciliation you can measure — in results, not statements.
- Jobs and training written right into the agreement — so work builds careers, not just paycheques.
- Contracts set up to flow through Nation-owned businesses — so every contract makes the Nation's businesses stronger.
- Ownership and revenue deals where the community stays in control — and the profits stay home.
- Nations working together — buying together, sharing equipment and services — so the money stays in the region.
- We hand over the knowledge and systems as we go — so each project leaves the Nation more ready to lead the next one.
That is the goal behind every deal we build at a Nation's direction: development that grows the Nation's own infrastructure, people, and institutions — for this generation and the ones coming behind it.
Nations are no longer just asked for their opinion on projects. Nations now own projects, finance projects, and partner in projects. That change is happening right now — new mining priorities, fast-tracked projects, and billions of dollars set aside to help Nations become owners. Our work is making sure your Nation gets its full share of that — as an owner and a partner, on your terms.
Promises we put in writing.
"Willow-ICS works alongside First Nation leadership and staff. We do not replace Band or Nation staff. We do not compete with Nation-owned businesses. We do not take over community projects. Every engagement is opt-in, Nation-directed, and structured to leave more capability behind than it found."
- You choose to work with us — and you set the direction.
- We work at your pace.
- Does not replace Band staff or compete with Nation-owned businesses.
- When the work ends, your team keeps everything — the systems, the documents, and the know-how.
- Honest about what Willow-ICS is and is not: we are a non-Indigenous services partner, not Indigenous-owned, and not a law firm or financial advisor.
- We keep your business private. We never name clients, and we describe past work only in general terms.
The cost to the Nation is often not the fee.
The price depends on the work, the timeline, and the funding available. Many projects are paid for through federal or provincial programs, industry contributions, or grants — so the cost to the Nation is often much lower than you would expect, and sometimes nothing at all. Two rules protect you: we never take a percentage of grant money we help you win, and we never take money from a company that is sitting across the table from you. Finding the right funding is part of the first conversation.