Breaking Down the Barriers: Collaboration in Procurement Workshop
ACR’s Indigenous Relations Committee works with member companies, Indigenous stakeholders, and government to improve how the resource sector works with Indigenous communities. The committee is currently looking at the procurement space and how organizations in the resource sector incorporate Indigenous inclusiveness into to their procurement practices. Their work led to the Breaking Down the Barriers: Collaboration in Procurement Workshop that was held on October 26, 2023, in Calgary. This mini conference was the first in a series the committee is looking to host. The recent workshop generated collaborative discussions and produced some key themes for future workshops to build on. Ultimately, the ACR’s Indigenous Relations Committee would like to use the learnings to produce inclusive procurement practices for the resource sector.
The event on October 26, 2023, was divided into sessions. During the first session, attendees heard from industry and their perspectives, successes, and challenges with Indigenous inclusiveness in procurement. Nicole Bourque-Bouchier provided a very honest and open keynote presentation as she spoke of the challenges her business continues to face in spite of their hard work and successes to date. She has found that current business procurement practices create a tier system that restricts Indigenous owned companies from participating. Following the keynote, the second half of the workshop provided insight from Indigenous leaders and business owners. Overall, certain key themes kept emerging in each presentation. These were: relationships, mutual opportunity, and capacity building.
Relationships
Relationships are the key to any successful business partnership. This was the number one point stressed by each guest speaker. Developing a connection and understanding of culture leads to a deeper more long-lasting relationship, and these relationships lead to business partnerships. Each Indigenous community faces different challenges, and for this reason, each partnership between industry and an Indigenous community will be unique. This leads to the next theme of mutual opportunity.
Mutual Opportunities
Building strong sustainable relationships are required to understand the benefits for each party. mutual opportunities need to be examined. During the workshop, Eugene Horseman, Director of Business Development, Status Energy, talked about the racial divide and the sigma the people of his community face daily. He spoke about the lack of skills and education due to limited access to transportation. Because of this, it’s difficult for community members to start and maintain a successful business. Strong Indigenous-industry partnerships address the challenges and create solutions that ultimately benefit both parties.
Capacity Building
The final theme was capacity building. Many examples were provided during the workshop. Indigenous businesses want an equal opportunity to compete; however, the small businesses don’t have the capacity to compete. But, from industry’s perspective, this isn’t a great business decision; hiring a company that can do all the work at a lower cost versus a smaller company that can do a fraction of the work at a higher cost is often what it comes down to. However, Grant Lindstrom, Chief Commercial Officer, Northback, encouraged procurement professionals and resource companies to consider investing in these small businesses. They can help these small businesses by providing opportunities, investing in the businesses, and connecting business owners with others who can help them meet their goals and objectives. Industry needs to work with Indigenous businesses to help them become competitive and give them the opportunities to show up to the table in a competitive position. This often means they need to be creative in their approach to building relationships and discovering how both parties can benefit from a business partnership.
ACR would like to thank the Indigenous Relation Committee for their work in organizing the Breaking Down the Barriers: Collaboration in Procurement Workshop and to Gene Ouellette for facilitating. Thank you to all the guest speakers: Nicole Bourque-Bouchier, Gordon Giles, Cheryl Gray, Jonathan Wright, Grant Lindstrom, Eugene Horseman, Brenda McFadyen-Landry, Wendell Rain, Ryan Robb, and Allen Tobber.
Thank you to our partners who make these events possible: ATCO, Liberty Energy, AspenLeaf Energy, SLB, entrust engagement, KMC Mining, NuVista Energy, and Sustrio Advisors.
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