Terry Paul

Personal Life and Education

Terry Paul is the son of Philomena and Phillip MacEwan. He has nine siblings: three brothers and six sisters. Paul grew up in foster care for part of his childhood, moving from one rural First Nation to another. He attended several elementary schools on Cape Breton Island, including three Indian day schools. Paul was also a student at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, the only one of its kind in the Maritime provinces (see also Residential Schools in Canada).

Paul completed junior high school at three different schools, two of which were in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He completed his high school education at the Sydney Academy. Later, Paul attended the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In 1991, he married Tracey Moore. He has 10 children: seven boys and three girls.

Early Employment

Terry Paul worked at various jobs before he was elected chief. In the early 1970s, he moved to Boston to look for employment. Paul gravitated towards the Boston Indian Council (renamed the North American Indian Center of Boston in 1991). It served as a centre for social and civil rights activities for the urban Indigenous community in Boston. Paul took business and finance courses sponsored by the centre.

By the mid-1970s, Paul was hired as a job placement officer. He was quickly promoted to director of finance and eventually became president. During his time in Boston, Paul acquired a wide-ranging knowledge of administration and financial management.

Paul returned to Cape Breton and worked in sales at the Micmac News, a publication created by Roy Gould, a 19-year-old member of Membertou First Nation. It ran from 1965 to 1991 and soon spread across Indigenous communities in Mi’kmaki, the traditional Mi’kmaw territory in the Maritime provinces and eastern Quebec.

Membertou First Nation

Terry Paul then became economic development officer and band manager for Membertou First Nation and has worked there ever since. When Paul was first elected chief in 1984, he inherited a $1-million annual deficit in a $4-million annual budget. Most of the budget, some 99 per cent, came from government transfers. It was then that Paul decided he would sort out the community’s finances and make it self-sufficient.

Under his leadership, Membertou has become a very successful First Nation. Its land base has doubled, and the employment rate has grown to almost 80 per cent. Membertou briefly opened a corporate office in Halifax, followed by a second one in Membertou. Eventually, the Halifax office closed, and the staff relocated to the Membertou one. The office forms the basis for Membertou’s economic development.

The introduction of a corporate mindset has moved Membertou into the global economy. In the early 2000s, Membertou became the first Indigenous community in the world to achieve the ISO 9000 certification, which establishes internationally accepted standards of performance by businesses.   

Business deals followed with companies such as Lockheed Martin, SNC-Lavalin (now AtkinsRéalis), Grant Thornton and Sodexho Canada. But the largest partnership was with Clearwater Seafoods, a billion-dollar agreement of which Paul was the architect.

Clearwater Seafoods

In the early 1990s, when Membertou was still trying to arrange its finances, one of the people Terry Paul sought advice from was John Risley. Risley was co-founder of Clearwater Seafoods, an extremely successful Halifax-based seafood company and one of North America’s biggest. Risley made a presentation to the Membertou council about preparing financial statements and the importance of their transparency.

Over the years, Clearwater worked with Membertou on various initiatives, which culminated on 25 January 2021 when a billion-dollar deal to purchase Clearwater became official. The purchase was made by a partnership between Premium Brands Holding Corporation, a British Columbia company, and a coalition of Mi’kmaw First Nations.

Paul was the driving force behind the coalition, led by Membertou and Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador, and partnered with five other First Nations in Nova Scotia (see also First Nations in Newfoundland and Labrador). The coalition provided $250 million towards the deal with a loan from the First Nations Finance Authority. Paul’s priority after the acquisition was to create more employment in the First Nations involved and to grow the company.

In 2023, Membertou’s annual revenues exceeded $85 million, of which some $20 million is in the form of government transfers. The First Nation operates 13 community-owned commercial businesses, which includes hospitality, tourism, shopping, entertainment and fisheries ventures. Together, they employ more than 600 people.

Membertou Education

Terry Paul’s focus on education has helped high school graduation rates increase from 30 per cent to 90 per cent, compared with a national Indigenous average of 36 per cent. He was part of the renewal of the original 1998 Mi’kmaq Education Agreement with the federal government in March 2022 (see also Education of Indigenous Peoples in Canada). This 10-year, $600-million contract continues the agreement’s primary aim of giving control of education to local First Nations in Nova Scotia.

Of the 13 First Nations in Nova Scotia, 12 are part of the agreement and run their own schools. One key to the success of the agreement has been an arrangement with St. Francis Xavier University to train Mi’kmaw teachers for First Nations schools. The program has been a resounding success.

Honours and Awards

• Cape Breton Business Hall of Fame (2009)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Cape Breton University (2010)
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame (2012)
• Member, Order of Canada (2017)
• Frank McKenna Leadership Award (2018)
• Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Lifetime Achievement Award (2020)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Mount Allison University (2021)
• Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (Nova Scotia) (2022)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Dalhousie University (2022)
• Atlantic Business Magazine’s CEO of the Year (2022)
• One of Canada’s Most Admired CEOs (2023)