Companies reach bronze standing in PAR

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The efforts of Canada Post Corporation, Manitoba Lotteries Corporation and Compass Group Canada to develop a good working relationship with the Aboriginal community have earned the companies a bronze standing in the Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program.

Canada Post Corporation is a federal Crown corporation and that fact made for some difficulties in completing the assessment process, explained Dwight Powless, Canada Post's advisor for Aboriginal relations.

"We can't just decree or make a rule that the company is going to follow the PAR program. We have unions and they have collective agreements, so we have to take a look at how we implement and participate in this type of program," he said.

Despite the challenges, the corporation did complete the assessment and achieve bronze standing, which Powless sees as a starting point for Canada Post's efforts to further improve its relations with the Aboriginal community.

The corporation has had programs in place to reach out to Aboriginal people for a number of years, but as a result of the assessment, work has begun to revamp and improve those programs. As a result, some regional programs will be expanded to become corporation-wide, and some internal programs will be opened up to Aboriginal people outside the company.

The biggest challenges Canada Post is likely to face in its efforts to further implement the PAR program will be in communication, both internally and externally, Powless explained.

Canada Post, the seventh largest employer in the country, has morphed into an all-inclusive mail delivery provider. In addition to providing traditional mail service, the corporation is branching out into courier services and electronic mail. Canada Post owns a 96 per cent share in Purolator Courier Ltd. and has an interest in Montreal-based Intelcom Courier Canada Inc. And in 1999, the corporation launched epost, a service that allows customers to send and receive their mail, pay their bills an access information online.

Because of the size of the company, letting everyone know about PAR and Canada Post's initiatives to improve Aboriginal relations will be difficult, but it is a necessary part of the program, Powless said.

"That's the most important thing that came out of PAR, is because we're so big and so vast, not everyone is aware of all the different things that have been going on in the company in terms of our Aboriginal relationships. And that came out pretty clear during the self-assessment. So I think that's why it's important for us to broadcast and to track PAR programs and who's participating in our programs and to make sure that we're conveying those types of positive messages across the company."

The other communication challenge the corporation faces is getting the message out to Aboriginal people that working for Canada Post doesn't just mean delivering the mail.

"People don't realize the vast number of career opportunities we have in the company. Most people are acquainted with Canada Post through the post office where they go to pick up their mail or buy a stamp, but people aren't familiar with the infrastructure that runs that operation. We have engineers, we have lawyers, we have technologists... we have business administration, we have business commerce people, we have marketing people," Powless said.

"So it's getting employees, and Aboriginal employees, thinking of Canada Post as a good place to have a career. Especially in those areas outside the traditional letter carrier."

Getting involved in the PAR program is just good for business, said Manitoba Lotteries Corporation vice president of human resources Marilyn Robinson, with both the corporation and Aboriginal businesses benefiting.

Manitoba Lotteries Corporation (MLC) is a provincial Crown corporation that manages and operates Winnipeg's Club Regent Casino and McPhillips Street Station Casino, as well as operating the province's video lottery termial network and distributing lottery products across the province.

The PAR also provides a benchmark by which MLC can judge its progress in improving its relationships with the Aboriginal community, Robinson said.

"It's going to be able to give us some ways to improve, to continuously improve so that we can develop even better and stronger relationships with the Aboriginal community and the Aboriginal business community."

The corporation has been successful in its attempts to attract Aboriginal employees-currently more than 13 per cent of the corporation's employees are Aboriginal-and a number of in-house initiatives have been introduced to provide training and education opportunities to employees so they can advance in their careers.

"Because it's not just about at the intake level having employment equity members of our workforce represented. We want to see that they are fairly distributed throughout the whole makeup and hierarchy of the organization," Marilyn Robinson said.

The MLC has a strong record of supporting the Aboriginal community through sponsorship of education awards and cultural and recreational events. But, Robinson said, the area where more work needs to be done is in business development, "doing more outreach to Aboriginal business" and working more closely with Aboriginal suppliers and contractors.

"It's all about continuous improvement," Robinson said. "We want to get better. We still believe that we can do many things better, and by getting some additional assistance and information, hopefully we will be able to achieve that goal."

The third bronze level PAR company, Compass Group Canada, is part of the U.K. based Compass Group PLC, the largest food service company in the world. The Canadian arm has a number of divisions serving different markets. Through Chartwells, the company provides food services to primary, secondary and post-secondary schools, while Eurest Dining Services caters to business and industry. Sports veues are served through Levy Restaurants, while the health sector is served through Crothall Healthcare Inc. However, the division of Compass that currently offers the most opportunity for developing good relationships with the Aboriginal community is Eurest Support Services (ESS), which services offshore and remote sites, including oil and gas and mining projects in Canada's North.