b'SHOW DEVELOPMENTSelf-funding was the only option asaway and wrote me a commitment.Bears Lair offered three levels of Bears Lair was not eligible to receiveThey were like, We love this, sponsorship: Thunderbird at $25,000, Indigenousor anymedia grants.says Jackson. Copper at $10,000, and Abalone Game show entertainment showsat $5,000. Corporate sponsors are disqualified from grant fundingA chain reaction followed, withacross Canada signed onto seven because of the cash prizes involved.the show garnering support fromThunderbird sponsorships and five companies far and wide. We gotCopper by the spring of this year. The Despite this hurdle, Jackson quicklyOntario Power Generation [OPG],highest sponsorship bracket came found nationwide support for herand theyre in Ontario. What are theywith the opportunity to be a guest show and lenders willing to back itdoing signing onto a show thatsjudge on one of the episodes, a perk with hard cash. I reached out tobeing filmed in B.C.? It was a realthat was quite popular accordingtraditional funding lenders, Scotiabank,domino effect of success and wantingto Jackson. RBC, etc., and they came on rightto be a part of it, says Jackson. HOME OF THE LAIRA TV show is nothing without a stage, and Jackson looked to her own family for the production location. She felt it was paramount that the show be produced on traditional Indigenous land and pay respect to the culture and community it served. She turned to her brother Shain for help. An Indigenous artist with a studio Formerly Hitachi ABB in North Vancouver on traditional Squamish territory, Shains workplace Now Hitachi Energy proved ideal, and it was transformed into a TV studio for the filming of Bears Lair. What was once a workshop Come work with us for longhouses and Salish art turned We are innovators who believeinto the truly Indigenous home of a that successful collaborationtruly Indigenous TV program. Im comes from all over Canada. going to make you the most beautiful set that youve ever seen. I want this to look high end. Im so proud of you for what youve done, Jackson recalls her brother telling her. He made a beautiful stage. He made [a special] carpet in two days.There were, however, some challenges tied to the location that would have to be tolerated. The only problem with where my brothers studio [is located] is that the train kept coming by. We were at the mercy of CN Rail and their trains going every 20 minutes! Jackson recalls with a laugh. With a pitch, funding and location under her belt, Jackson set about finding the bears for the lair. With so many talented and successful Indigenous business mentors in Canada today, it was a hard task narrowing the number down to just four. However, there was one who was always in Jacksons sights. Her first call would be to oil sands business mogul Dave Tuccaro from the Mikisew Cree First Nation. 18A CCAB PUBLICATION2022Hitachi Ad-Aboriginal Business Report.indd 1 2022-04-29 11:23 AM'