Angelique's Native Arts, the longest surviving business in the 400 block of George Street, is in transition.
When the entire western side of the block (the eastern side is occupied by the Ramada Hotel complex) was bought up and slated for demolition, Angelique Merasty Levac was forced to find a new location. The Citizen caught up to her on Monday as she was setting up shop at 335 Dominion Street in what used to be Paul's Shoe Repair. She is now right next door to the White Goose Bistro.
"It's very emotional for me. I've been here 16 years. Even the people who owned the building weren't here as long as I was," she said. "I'm just so sad. It's terrible that people can force you out of the place you've been doing business for so long. I know I was only renting, but the building got sold for big money so they walk away with that financial benefit, they get to start fresh, but I get kicked out with nothing. I got the bad end of all of it."
Especially upsetting for Levac was her attempt to buy the building at an earlier time in her business's history. She secured enough money from one lending source for a sizable down payment, contingent on bank support, but no bank would give her a mortgage. The reason she believes: she was a female Aboriginal entrepreneur.
She didn't suspect that any loans officer looked at the colour of her skin and dismissed her on that basis. She contended that the banking system itself is closed to Aboriginal involvement.
In general terms, according to Aboriginal business contacts who spoke with The Citizen, this is due to things like lack of collateral (harder to obtain for Aboriginal people because reserve property is not owned by the individual), steady employment (Aboriginal people are systemically underemployed), and lack of co-signing backers (the support network for most Aboriginal people is other Aboriginal people who suffer the same issues), which prevents First Nations people from receiving the kind of simple investments for life that non-Aboriginal people generally take for granted.
"I built a name up on my birch bark biting," she said, referencing the rare art form she is a master of, chipping intricate designs into birch bark using her teeth. "That's what backed me up. I built my business up on that, and I still have no help. No grants, no banks, no backers, just me. I pay everything up front out of my business. And to move to a new location, you have to put out a lot of money. This is very hard for me."
There are some "blessings in disguise" she has noticed, though. The new store is 450 square feet whereas her old location was a cramped 310 square feet.
She also spotted some discarded showcases outside of the Shoppers Drug Mart renovations at Spruceland Mall and obtained them from the drugstore's management. The old location would not have room for them. Now she can better display her inventory.
The shopkeepers along George Street "were like a family" she said, and she misses that. But once she is used to her new surroundings, she said, she expected to feel more comfortable. She doesn't have dates finalized, but is favouring Saturday as her soft opening date, with a major open house later in the month once all the bugs of the new location are worked out.
