You are WSP Indigenous Relations Leader for BC and Yukon. What are your main responsibilities?
My main roles are to contribute to and implement the company’s framework for Indigenous Relations in BC and to contribute to implementing the national framework for the Indigenous Relations program. This involves working closely with the National Director, Indigenous Relations and Social Sciences, BC’s regional working groups, and BC’s Business Leaders to help develop and implement strategic initiatives. It also involves supporting business teams outreach to Indigenous communities by supporting relationship building and optimizing opportunities to support community economic development, employment and training initiatives and building cultural awareness.
Given this is a new role, what kind of feedback have you been getting?
It has been very positive so far and communities are curious about what services WSP offers. I think there is an opportunity to promote WSP to Indigenous communities as many people are blown away with the level and number of services that WSP provides – especially within our Earth and Environment sector, with the environment a value so important to First Nations people. Therefore, I think education and knowledge sharing is going to be a big part of my role in the near future.
Why do you think it’s important for a company like WSP to have Indigenous Relations Leaders in Canada’s various regions?
I would like to start by reminding people that WSP is part of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program. A lot of our work when it comes to Indigenous Relations is supported by the four drivers the PAR program: business partnership, community investment, economic development, employment, training, and education.
Those values guide me when I provide advice and recommendations to support regional priorities and to help develop strategic initiatives, including initiatives related to developing Indigenous relations, like partnerships. This also includes investment into communities, economic development, employment, training programs, as well as education.
Our Indigenous communities are diverse, they each have their own set of values and face different challenges. Would you say this reinforces the importance of having professionals like you across Canada?
Absolutely. For example, just in BC there are 199 First Nations. Each region is unique in its geography and from region to region even culture and languages differ. Understanding political, social and economic realities for First Nations in BC is an area that is complex. Having knowledge of which Nations are within a project area and how to communicate and respectfully inform and involve Nations on projects can be daunting. It takes time to develop and maintain relationships over a project’s lifespan. In addition, for a company the size of WSP, its possible that relations may have been established through other projects. So having dedicated professional to oversee and facilitate relations demonstrates that the company takes this aspect seriously.
With so many Nations in the province it is understandable that Nations may have competing interests because their traditional territories would overlap with other Nations. In Canada that can cause significant challenges because we are a resource-based economy.