For the first time in more than 50 years, Nanaimo’s St. Jean’s Cannery and Smokehouse will be controlled by someone other than the St. Jean family.
NCN Cannery LP, owned by a group from Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nation, has joined the 55-year-old business as its majority shareholder in a move the company said will strengthen seafood production on Vancouver Island.
St. Jean’s marketing manager Derek Perkins said the partnership is a win-win. “Doing a partnership with the First Nations allows us to take advantage of their fishing quota as well,” he said, noting the business was built on sport fishing and wild salmon.
Perkins said the expectation is it will be business as usual for the next five or so years, with no significant change or expansion.
One change will see president Gerard St. Jean, son of founder Armand St. Jean, step down. He will be replaced as president by general manager Steve Hughes. Perkins said Gerard, an engineer, will remain with the company to look after the mechanics of the plant.
He said while the investment from NCN Cannery wasn’t required to stay in business, it was part of an exit strategy for the St. Jean family.
For NCN Cannery, it means a closer relationship with the plant where the First Nations have been processing fish.
The cannery, which operates stores and sport fishing depots in Port Alberni, Campbell River, and Richmond, was founded in 1961 by Armand St. Jean. His sons Gerard and Paul have been running the plant and a third generation, Gerard’s son Dave, continues to work there.
