Matt Lapointe and Kelsey Boettcher of Alberta K9 make a $10,000 winning pitch on APTN's Bears' Lair. (APTN)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

inspiring future indigenous entrepreneurs

Red Deer Indigenous-owned company featured on APTN’s Bears’ Lair

Sep 16, 2022 | 9:40 AM

Two Red Deer business owners are featured in a new TV series on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).

Entitled Bears’ Lair, which debuted Sept. 11, entrepreneurs with Indigenous backgrounds pitch their business for a share of prize money.

The concept is similar to Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den in that contestants pitch to judges, but instead of the judges taking a cut of the company, they select one winner per episode who moves on to the next round.

In the end, 18 emerging and established Indigenous businesses will compete for their share of $180,000.

Representing Red Deer in the premiere were Matthew Lapointe and Kelsey Boettcher. The pair’s business is Alberta K9, which trains professional working canines and provides services in support of community safety and harm-reduction initiatives.

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Speaking to rdnewsNOW, Lapointe, who is Métis, explains that Alberta K9 breeds, raises, trains and handles canines for public safety roles, including drug and bomb detection, but also for things like diabetic alerts.

Formerly with the RCMP and Blood Tribe Police Service, primarily working in First Nations communities, Lapointe left the service after 12 years to focus on his and wife Kelsey Boettcher’s business.

The couple won their episode, including a $10,000 prize, and move onto the semi-final, which will likely air in late October.

Show-runners want the program to inspire viewers into reconciliACTION, a word Lapointe loves.

“The most important thing about this show for us actually isn’t the prize money. That’s great, but what’s most important is inspiring people. If we can inspire one Indigenous person or youth who has the potential and wants to be an entrepreneur, that’d be wonderful,” he says.

“If you’d told me when I was a youth that I’d be working with working dogs one day, training them, owning a business and travelling all over, I wouldn’t have believed you. I was terrified of big dogs growing up. So to that Indigenous person watching who has a hobby or a dream, go out and chase it.”

He adds that the show will also raise awareness about Indigenous businesses actually being out there.

“We’re starting to move into businesses that maybe our ancestors weren’t able to do, were stopped from doing or didn’t have the resources to do,” says Lapointe. “We’re making a comeback. Indigenous businesses are growing rapidly in Canada.”

According to a 2020 report by the Royal Bank of Canada, Canada’s Indigenous economy was projected to hit $100 billion by 2025, more than triple the $30 billion of 2020.

Bears’ Lair judge Geena Jackson also spoke about reconciliACTION.

“[We hope] that they [the business owners] make compassionate decisions and then take meaningful actions that move our nation towards Reconciliation,” says Jackson. “Within a business context, ReconciliACTION means that every leadership decision – from buying to hiring, training to mentoring, and marketing to investing – creates opportunities to build mutually-beneficial relationships and to elevate Indigenous businesses, communities, knowledge and values.”

Upcoming episodes of Bears’ Lair are set to air Sept. 18 and 25, then October 2 and 9, with semi-finals and the finale to air after that.

Past episodes can be viewed at bearslairtv.com.