She:kon Akwesasne Tourism Working Group! Good news! We’ve been awarded the ANA SEEDS Grant! It’s for 2 million over 5 years to assist us to implement our entire Akwesasne Tourism Strategic Action Plan! Thanks Rick, we couldn’t have done it without you and Pauline. (Lindsay M. Tarbell)

Rick and Pauline - Thank you for your invaluable work on this and we will forever remember how we rolled up our sleeves and crunched to submit. You are part of the Akwesasne family and we look forward to many more successes. Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Council and Administration are 'over the moon' on this announcement! (Christopher P. Thompson)

Nià:wen/Thank you

Thank you also for all your hard work on the Washow and Youth Centre projects. You've done excellent work, and it has paid off for our community!

Gitchi-meegwetch.

I just want to say my appreciation for all that you have done in getting the Youth Centre settled. I'm relieved that this long time building will eventually materialize. It all boiled down to being patient and allowing the chips to fall where they may. The excitement when it was announced to the youth was fantastic and joyous. Wish you heard it.

Anyway, thanks again Rick. Your successes have been many and I will let them speak for themselves.

I am pleased to inform you that we have just received a letter from Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Our proposal for $1.46 million has been approved.

On behalf of the Moose Cree First Nation, we thank you and your colleagues for your excellent work on our behalf on the Emergency Preparedness and Response Centre of Excellence project. This puts us into an excellent position for our project. I am now confident that we will be able to secure the remaining financing for our $4.2 million capital project. Well done!

We would like to acknowledge the high quality of the work you and your team have done for us and to thank you for being such a huge support. As you know, not-for-profit organizations like ours do not always have the resources or expertise required to write proposals to secure the funding we need to survive. In that respect, your professional services were greatly appreciated. We were delighted to receive our letter of approval recently from the Ontario Aboriginal Economic Development Program for our tourism business plan. Your services were invaluable and we look forward to working with you on this project.

An Eco-Friendly Inn

Environmental Design + Construction Magazine

The Cree Village Ecolodge has become a northern Canadian tourist destination for those seeking a unique look at the Cree culture as well as an environmental setting indoors and out.

Cree Village Ecolodge, referred to as Canada's most environmentally friendly inn that is accessible only by water and built at the edge of the sub Arctic, has become a northern Canadian tourist destination. Managed by the MoCreebec Council of the Cree Nation of Moose Factory Island, it offers visitors a rare example of Cree culture.

Inspiration for the project came through a steering committee of the Council spearheaded by Chief Randy Kapashesit, chief of the MoCreebec Council of the Cree Nation. The committee members recognized that to attract tourists to the island, they needed adequate accommodations. Project manager, Rick MacLeod of MacLeod Farley and Associates, who specializes in developing as well as finding provincial and federal funds for northern projects, pointed the committee in the right direction. He suggested that they target their market to the fastest growing tourism segment: the 'ecotourist.' With this in mind, the concept of a completely eco-friendly building reflecting the history and values of the Cree evolved.

If only once per decade there were OSCARS for Economic Development, MoCreebec's Allan Jolly along with his consulting team headed up by Rick MacLeod Farley – would be winners in the categories of Vision, Tenacity and Dedication to Community.

I have enjoyed working with exciting and unique project and look forward to keeping in touch with its progress.

Rick and Pauline MacLeod Farley should be highly recommended as trainers and business planners for Aboriginal Eco-Tourism. They have been very thorough in the planning, presentation and follow-up and their evaluation by participants was one of the highest for the 6th Aboriginal tourism industry conference.

We are working on two new strategies for First Nations that include tourism and they will be recommended to provide training to these clients.

Good news Rick! I just heard back from the program and our submissions you prepared for us are all approved.

In fact, we got more funding out of the program than any other First Nation in Ontario!

I am writing to express our appreciation for the efforts you and your team at MacLeod Farley and Associates have expended on our behalf on the Kamestatin Lodge business and marketing planning initiative. These have gone far beyond the minimum of what one would normally be satisfied with from a consulting firm.

The finished business and marketing plan is an impressive document. I hope that it will get wide distribution…and stand as an example of what an intelligent and culturally sensitive approach to such an exercise can produce. And of course it goes without saying that there aren't many consulting firms out there whose principal partners would, in the course of their work, willingly undergo a 14 hour skidoo ride through some of the roughest territory in North America in the teeth of westerly winds that brought the windchill to -40!

I would like to express my thanks for your hard work and dedication on the business plan project for Ancient Roots.

Thank you for the special attention you displayed towards my business venture, for teaching me what it takes to develop a successful business and your friendly, professional working attitude. Our meetings left me with many valuable tools concerning business planning, practice management and marketing strategies. It was an exceptional learning experience.

At each of our meetings, whether over the phone or in person, a high level of professionalism and standards were held.

Thank you again for all of your business support.

Hiring MacLeod Farley & Associates to conduct a Strategic Planning and Business Planning project was the best move the Classic Theatre board has ever made.

We have moved from being a group of individuals with good intentions, but lacking direction, to a professional organization with common goals, a strategic plan and the tools in place to achieve the plan.