The Air North story is a good example of how a development corporation acts as the business arm of a modern treaty organization. By starting new businesses, investing in existing businesses, forming partnerships to deliver services to nearby mines, and employing local people, development corporations can play a central role in generating regional economic activity that directly benefits both treaty beneficiaries and non-Indigenous businesses and individuals. Another example is the Tłı̨chǫ Investment Corporation which built the Community Sportplex in Behchoko.

Development corporations are accountable to the modern treaty organizations that create them and are typically managed by boards of trustees.

Following are more examples of business activities by development corporations that are creating economic opportunities in their regions: