The Kitikmeot Economic Development
Commission (KEDC) is the economic development arm of the Kitikmeot Inuit
Association (KIA), serving Nunavut Land Claims beneficiaries in the Kitikmeot
region of Nunavut. First established in 1990 under the NWT Societies
Act as the Kitikmeot Regional Community Economic Development Organization
or “Kitikmeot Regional CEDO”, the Commission’s mandate (as defined by
KIA) is to improve and promote the economic status and self-reliance of
Inuit and Inuit communities in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.
To accomplish its mandate, KEDC
has twelve principal objectives:
- To increase the direct participation of Inuit
in business and business development;
- To increase the number and quality of business
and employment opportunities available to Inuit in their own communities
- To ensure that Inuit have the means and resources
to take advantage of opportunities within their own communities, and
to participate more effectively in the wider business community;
- To increase the ability of Inuit to control
and carry out their own economic development initiatives and support
services within their own communities;
- To increase the number of Inuit owned businesses
and to facilitate the entry of Inuit into businesses in their own communities;
- To increase the number of Inuit involved in
a management capacity in business and development organizations in their
communities;
- To increase the number of Inuit involved in
an employment capacity in business and development organizations in
their communities;
- To increase the viability of the local economy
in Kitikmeot communities;
- To increase community, human, and financial
wealth and remove artificial barriers to the sustainable development
of natural resources;
- To promote the provision of information and
training to Inuit to enable them to participate fully in economic development
and business management and operation;
- To ensure that the needs of businesses for
financing, marketing, and other business services are adequately provided
for;