Syncrude, Cameco strike gold with PAR

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Syncrude and Cameco are two companies with a lot in common. Both are resource-based businesses--Syncrude works in the petroleum sector, and Cameco in the mining sector. Both operate in northern communities-Syncrude based out of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, and Cameco with mining operations across northern Saskatchewan. And both companies have had their Aboriginal relations efforts recognized-gold level achievement hallmarks from the Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program, the first companies earn that level.

Years of commitment to improving relationships the Aboriginal community is at the heart of the recognition. That commitment has existed at Cameco longer than the company itself, said Jamie McIntyre, director of investor and corporate relations, who has northern affairs as one of his responsibilities.

Cameco was formed through the merger of the Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation, and Eldorado Nuclear, two Crown corporations, one provincial and one federal, where Aboriginal relations initiatives had been part of both operations.

"But I think what happened when Cameco was formed, we just took them to a whole new level. And that was 1988 when Cameco was formed. From that time forward, we've been pretty committed to the essence of Aboriginal relationships," McIntyre said.

"If you're committed to working with Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal people, to bring them into the mainstream of your business, you need to develop strategies in a whole variety of areas. Obviously, direct employment; that's a very important one. And direct business involvement through contracting and purchasing. That's a very important one as well. It obviously has an employment spin off as well.

"The other really important one is education and post-secondary training. I think with Cameco, what really stands out perhaps is we have a sophisticated education and training program to bring more Aboriginal people into our workforce in more substantial ways. We do everything from supporting public education, school-based programs, to try to encourage Aboriginal kids to stay in school, to sophisticated agreements with the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan to promote Aboriginal participation in mathematics and sciences at the university level. And everything in between," McIntyre said.

"And the fourth thing that both Syncrude and Cameco have that make us quite unique is we really have sophisticated methods in place to communicate and inform Aboriginal people about what we're doing, and why we're doing it."

About 45 per cent of Cameco's permanent operations workforce is Aboriginal. And over the years, Cameco has come up with a number of ways to help Aboriginal business to develop.

"What we say is that Cameco's philosophy is that those people in communities that are most impacted by our operations should be the ones that benefit from them. Our operations are in northern Saskatchewan. It's predominantly Aboriginal-75 per cent of the population is Aboriginal-and we believe that Aboriginal people must benefit from the opportunities that are created through our industry," McIntyre said.

Nora Flett is the Aboriginal affairs representative with Syncrude.The company was "very pleased" with receiving the gold hallmark from PAR, she said, but had been pretty confident it would receive one of the higher levels of recognition, based on their 25-plus years of work in building strong Aboriginal relations.

The PAR gold designation, Flett explained, gives Syncrude "confirmation from an Aboriginal organization that they do indeed believe that we do have a very well-run Aboriginal development program.

That Aboriginal development program is something that has been in place at Syncrude since the company's beginnings, Flett explained.

"One of the things that this company recognized when they first came here was that there was an Aboriginal community. And they wanted to ensure that they developed a positive orking relationship with that Aboriginal community. And so they began by saying, 'we're going to hire Aboriginal people.' Through that experience, they learned that there was a lot more that they were going to have to do than just hire Aboriginal people, because you don't just take someone from a small community, put them in a big corporation environment and expect that people will survive there, because that's quite a bit of a culture shock. And so they started to develop what they called the Aboriginal development program, meaning they had counsellors. They had employment counsellors, they had counsellors that helped families adjust to this area, learn about the company and the expectations in the company. And there was a lot of support people put in place to help Aboriginal people be successful," she said.

Right now, Syncrude has about 3,900 employees, and about nine per cent of those are Aboriginal.

Of course, Aboriginal employment is just one of the ways a company measures its success through the PAR program, and only one of the areas Syncrude has concentrated on.

"Over the years, what we've recognized is that we want to continue to develop Aboriginal people. And so now, we're working with these communities at very early ages now, talking to schools in the communities and in Fort McMurray, about literacy programs, Flett said. "Schools approach us and tell us about their programs, offer us an invitation to participate, and, of course, literacy is something that there's no question that we will support."

Syncrude also puts a lot of effort and emphasis on supporting Aboriginal businesses, helping develop their capacity so they can help meet Syncrude's need for contractors.

"It can be from as early as helping an Aboriginal business develop. To walk them through the whole thing of 'this is how you get incorporated, this is how you do a business plan,' or directing them to the people that will help them do that. And just working with them right until they get teir business up and running. And then what we say to them is, 'we will help you develop, but our expectation is that at some point that you will be able to become an independent business person.' And we haven't had very many disappointments as far as that goes," Flett said.

"Last year we did $92 million worth of business with Aboriginal businesses within the region," Flett said.

"The other piece of our program is called the Aboriginal relations aspect of it. And that's where we're developing a working relationship with all of the Aboriginal communities in this area. Communities as well as organizations . . . it covers a really wide range, but basically what we're trying to do in that program, we're trying to ensure that we are attentive to the concerns and needs of the communities" she said.

Flett recommends business involvement in the PAr program as long as there is a real commitment to improve the relationship with the Aboriginal community.

"I really throw the challenge out to other people to look at CCAB's PAR program, and not be afraid to take up the challenge."