Certification process valued by participants

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The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) only began its Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program three years ago, and already it has received the praise and support of many of the country's largest companies. Each year, more and more firms are entering the program, which provides a framework and a certification process for them to assess and improve their interaction with Aboriginal peoples and communities.

Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) (silver level) and Winnipeg's Place Louis Riel All-Suite Hotel (gold level) are among the companies that have completed the PAR assessment, and their commitment to the Aboriginal community was recently recognized at the CCAB's annual dinner on Feb. 18 in Toronto.

Spokespeople for both companies expressed gratitude and pride at receiving their PAR certifications, and a wholehearted endorsement of the PAR program's ideals and stringent requirements.

"It's a great process. It really helps you learn about community perceptions of your business. It shows ways that you can improve, areas that you are already doing well, and areas to focus on in the future," said Trish Ritthaler, Al-Pac's communications co-ordinator.

"There are excellent business reasons for participating in PAR. It's increasingly becoming a marketplace expectation that businesses demonstrate good corporate citizenship. However, we also feel it's just the right thing to do. If there are ways that we can improve on our relationship with Aboriginal communities, in terms of employment or economic development or training, we want to be able to do that."

Al-Pac was formed in 1989, and in 1991 the Alberta government selected its bid for forestry services over several more experienced firms. In 1993, the company completed construction of its mill north of Boyle, Alta., a state-of-the-art facility capable of producing 560,000 tonnes of pulp each year. At the time it was built, it was the largest single-line pulp mill in the world, and it still remains the largest in North America.

With stewardship of 58,000 sq. km of forested land (an area covering roughly one-tenth of the province), Al-Pac requires a large, progressive facility. And considering that 22 Aboriginal communities fall within this area, with a combined population of approximately 23,000 people, Al-Pac also requires an excellent relationship with this community in order to succeed.

"Al-Pac has always made a commitment to involving Aboriginal people in all aspects of our business. That's a commitment we take very seriously, so we've worked hard at developing opportunities and partnerships with Aboriginal communities," said Ritthaler.

There are many examples of Al-Pac's Aboriginal commitment, in each of the four areas assessed by the PAR program-employment, business development, individual capacity development and community relations. One is the Aboriginal Workplace Capacity Expansion Program, a training initiative offered in partnership with Portage College of Lac La Biche (a community 220 km northeast of Edmonton). This program focuses on building workplace skills, and prepares participants for future employment in industrial settings. Another example is the planning and management assistance Al-Pac provided to the Bigstone Cree Nation in establishing Bigstone Forestry Inc, a company that now employs 14, and is one of Al-Pac's most successful harvesting contractors. Yet another example is the Kakkiyaw Cultural Camp, which Al-Pac helped one of its employees to establish last year. New company employees now attend the camp as part of their training to learn about Aboriginal culture, people, and way of life.

Although the Place Louis Riel All-Suite Hotel is a very different company than Al-Pac, involved in an entirely different industry, it too has built itself on being a firm that employs, supports and caters to Aboriginal people.

"We long ago identified the growing importance of the Aboriginal economic sector," said MarinaSmith-Kulba, Place Louis Riel's general manager, "therefore going through the PAR process was a natural for us. We've always taken a holistic view of our business, and we are pleased to see that there is now a system in place to evaluate commitment levels of businesses who work with and for Aboriginal people and their communities."

The downtown Winnipeg establishment first opened in 1970 as a high-rise apartment building, but it soon changed its focus and became one of the city's largest hotels. Its 290 rooms are all suites, with full kitchen and living facilities, something that definitely appeals to the business's many loyal clients.

"Over 50 per cent of our clients are involved in Aboriginal business, or are from Aboriginal communities, so obviously that's a major focus of what we do," explained Krista Mask, the hotel's manager of marketing and sales. "They do a lot of business in the city, because it's not feasible for them to do many of their meetings, programs, education initiatives and training in their own communities."

The hotel is also a major Aboriginal employer, with a scholarship fund that encourages its employees to develop their skills within the industry. And it works in partnership with other Aboriginal businesses.

"We develop relationships not only with our clients, but also with the services we use," Krista Mask said.

"One of them is Anokiiwin Human Training & Employment Solutions. We provide our own staff to help them with some of their courses, and they provide us with cross-training opportunities. In one particular case, Anokiiwin called on us to help train staff, right here on our property, who were going to be working at a new hotel, the Kikiwak Inn, that was opening up in The Pas. We also did the same for another property in Garden Hill. By offering up our well-trained staff to help these new businesses get off the ground, it's win-win."

Place Louis Riel management see the PAR program as a similar, win-win process.

"It gave us a benhmark to see what things we already had in place, and what we're obviously doing right," said Mask. "We're really taking a progressive approach to working with Aboriginal communities, and building a strong business relationship.... It was a natural fit for us to go through the process, and it was very rewarding."