A new business model is needed to promote and recognize the contribution of aboriginal people to the energy industry, says a Calgary oilpatch executive.
Wayne Foo, president and CEO of Dominion Energy Canada Ltd., told a Calgary conference on aboriginal business issues that mutual respect — recognizing native business protocols, culture and that each community is different — has to be key in dealings between business and First Nations.
“We must acknowledge the past, and we must learn from it,” Foo told about 150 people attending the Calgary Chamber of Commerce “Native Awareness Builder” on Thursday.
Building those bridges can include recognizing that the availability of young aboriginal labour as an untapped opportunity to build relationships in native communities, but also in supporting First Nations-led business seeking capitalization and by offering them mentoring and support, said Foo.
Carole Crowe, community and aboriginal affairs manager at Dominion, says the biggest challenge facing the industry is “separating treaty and aboriginal rights issues from doing good business.”
“It sometimes clouds the opportunities to work together,” says Crowe, who acts as Dominion’s representative to aboriginal communities, many located in Treaty 8 country which includes vast swaths of northern Alberta.
“It’s important to understand how to listen, and what the issues really are about and how to interpret what elders and community members are telling us.”
Foo told the conference his company recognizes they are simply tenants on the land — but it must be left up to government and First Nations to determine treaty entitlements, “and who is the rightful landlord.”
“The important thing is for business and the nations to set aside the treaty issues and move forward while promoting the resolution of those issues in an appropriate forum,” he added.
The conference was an opportunity for Calgary’s business community to hear different perspectives on First Nations business issues, including taxation, communication, treaty rights, traditional lands and the energy industry.
Harold Cardinal, former president of the Indian Association of Alberta and adviser and consultant for First Nations organizations, reminded the audience that the much-touted Conti-nental Energy policy proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush last week needs to take First Nations people and treaties into account.
He estimated that up to 95 per cent of any oilpatch activity in Canada geared to addressing U.S. needs will take place within native traditional lands — and that those lands must “take an important and central place in the minds of any policy makers who want to address energy requirements.”
“It is our resources that fuel your prosperity,” he reminded the audience. “Our people are saying it’s time to begin re-channeling the benefits of these resources to fuel the well-being of First Nation communities.”
