The companies which are successful in Indigenous employment have made a point of visiting the communities where they do business. They understand the goals the communities have established, and they understand that building trust takes time and effort. It is these factors and many others that are helping to define the current state of Indigenous relations and the need for more acute strategies which go beyond the checkmark approach. Indigenous Works likens the process of building the organizational readiness and management strategies needed by companies to be successful at Indigenous employment and partnerships as a journey. Your company’s journey is like a canoe trip that requires a better knowledge of the waterways you are traversing. In the early days you are just learning your balance and a few key paddle strokes. Gradually, you become adept at paddling alone in different waterways, sometimes slow and steady, and sometimes through difficult bends in the river. Gradually you learn to paddle together as part of a team. Further along in your journey you gain a mastery of the skills and understandings needed and you find you are paddling alongside Indigenous people in synchronous routes and understandings. Effective Indigenous relations is best undertaken in a precision craft equipped with a map of the waterways and everyone working together in a common direction. For 25 years Indigenous Works has been working with companies to build the management and organizational skills needed to be successful in their respective Indigenous relations journeys to achieve exemplary Indigenous partnerships and employment results. Inclusion Works ’24 in Oct 8-10 in Nanaimo will offer a showcase of learning to help companies get beyond the checkmark approach and to navigate in a new era of inclusion. 1 - 2022 National Indigenous Economic Strategy. p.18. https:// niestrategy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NIES_English_ FullStrategy_2.pdf 2 - National Economic Strategy. Original reference is from the National Indigenous Economic Development Board, ‘Reconciliation: Moving Canada Forward by $27.7 Billion, 2016.’ 67 SEPT 2024 | BUSINESS ELITE CANADA
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