Band Council presented with Tim Hortons proposal

OHSWEKEN – Last night Dakota Brant taught elected band council how to say, “what is your name?” in Mohawk. When the proposed Tim Hortons opens up, she may be teaching them how to say, “I’d like a double-double, please.”

Franchisee Landon Miller, has been trying to establish a Tim Hortons fast food restaurant in the heart of Ohsweken for a number of years. Having received funding for the project last year, he came to elected band council’s general meeting last night to officially announce his project, his progress and to request a Band Council Resolution (BCR) signed by the Six Nations Elected Council.

Miller needs to give the BCR to the Bank of Montreal, who has helped him immensely throughout his journey and is supplying him with a commercial loan. The BCR gives the Bank of Montreal permission to come onto Six Nations and repossess equipment and supplies that were purchased with the loan, if the business doesn’t succeed.

“Basically it means that they can come get the ovens, panini presses and the toasters if I default on my loan,” said Miller.

This will be Canada’s first stand-alone, native owned Tim Hortons on native territory and Miller said that parking and traffic should not be an issue with where the restaurant is going, based on location.

Miller said that there are already a few Tim Hortons on reserves in Canada, but they are either non-native owned, owned by a non-native corporation, or if it is native owned then it is just a small shop attached to a gas station.

“This is the first full store,” he said. Meaning that it will offer everything that Tim Hortons’ do in nearby cities.

“We’ve been working probably six years on it,” said Miller. “It was technically approved six years ago — we’re just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s now.”

Miller passed around digital renderings of the future Tim Hortons. He said that his business colleagues at Tim Hortons approved representations of the Tree of Peace and the Hiawatha Wampum to be showcased on the outside of the building.

Elected council carried, or approved, Miller’s request for the BCR and Miller said that there should be a lot more progress done before the end of this summer.

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9 Comments

  1. beware doing business with a whiteman, they cheat and they’ll never give the land back, get all this in writing and not a 50-50 partnership either.

  2. Is band council now acting as a bailiff. Be very careful with what just took place it could up a Pandora’s box.

  3. I completely support the Tim Hortons as it represents progress for us as First Nations people and estsblishing a presence in the business world. We should be proud of any community member pursuing a great opportunity like this and having the drive and initiative to create a business precedence for First Nations people in all of Canada.

  4. also what about handicap parking, Tim Hortons has many regulations that are incompatible with the current mode in the reserve.

    What if they do have to add a few handicap parking spots, and some one without a permit (yeah a permit) parks in the spot, Will we then Need a bylaw for handicap parking. And who will enforce it will there be fines if caught. Its just asking for the whole shebang for a quik fix of the Java..

  5. Im not in favor of this, small businesses, are the heart of our community. Bringing cookie cutter businesses here is bad for many reasons. for one the food is processed hard, the sugar, unethical coffee, … If anything…

    This should be developed under a public trust so that Camps, and other revenues generated from sales would go to the trust. Especially since we are talking about communal lands.

    1. Do you not drink Tim Horton’s coffee? Not once? If you haven’t drank tim horton’s coffee you then do not understand why people love it. It helps bring employment to areas. It helps tourism. Instead of people driving through or by the reserve, there is actually a familiar brand that all Canadians know, except for maybe yourself. If this building is set up so you can grab a coffee and then visit sites on the reserve to help the small business’ thrive, then whats the problem? This is great progress for the native culture. Nothing better then a morning @ work with a hot tim’s coffee to help start the day. Am I wrong? Trenton’s doing just fine with the 8 tim horton’s in town. Hasn’t done a thing to small business. If anything, it brings better competition since other coffee stores can provide a different blend of coffee. I know change can be scary, but this is nothing to be afraid of. I’m sure people that live on the reserves would much prefer a tim horton’s in their town vs. having to drive out to just grab a coffee and donuts.

      1. I drink timmies all the time. Some coffee that is grown unethically is not worth the trade of threats of taxation and back door access to our peoples interests and namesakes. We are legal owners of all of haldimand why are we not payed by these companies royalties for land use. We should have a few people on these huge companies board of directors if they want to use our lands for their companies.

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