Most industrial proponents of major projects mean well and have good intentions, to avoid or minimize negative impacts from their projects on Indigenous groups. However, when planning and applying for regulatory approval, many do not have the necessary experience with Indigenous groups, nor the awareness or sensitivity of their issues and concerns, with which to comprehend how best to gain Indigenous cooperation and support for their projects. Indigenous experience, awareness and sensitivity are key factors and such qualities are hard to find in Industry among project planners, managers, engineers and technicians. In many respects, effective Indigenous relations requires highly specialized individuals who have had many years of interaction with many different Indigenous groups and not just interfacing with communities from the standpoint of delivering government services. Industry is currently awash with former federal and provincial government Indigenous services personnel, because they have experience with multiple Indigenous groups. However, Indigenous groups tend to find this offensive, as their history with “government types” is quite often not a good one. Taking this one step further, interaction with Indigenous people, highly specialized in this area, is generally more acceptable to Indigenous groups. Specialized individuals with a range of interaction experience related to Indigenous development, including business and commerce, socio-economic, political, cultural, finance and governance are really what’s needed. Freshly minted university graduates as Indigenous relations personnel are not going to do get the job done without the help of seasoned specialists. Indigenous Advantage Inc. can provide highly specialized Indigenous consultants and help industrial project proponents to better deal with their Indigenous stakeholders in advancing their major projects forward.
The major project services Indigenous Advantage Inc. can provide to its industrial clients are as follows:
Pre-Approval
• Lead or help with Indigenous socio-economic consultation and engagement activities, including developing strategies, policies and protocols that will ensure you quickly establish and maintain positive relationships with Indigenous groups starting as early as possible in the life cycle of your project;
• Lead or help with the establishment of the right Indigenous relations team to represent your project in dealing with potentially impacted Indigenous groups, including providing training and mentoring as required to ensure team members become the best in the business; (Note: If you want Indigenous Advantage Inc. to serve as your Indigenous relations team during any stage of your project, we can make that happen.)
• Lead or help with the identification of your project’s overall socio-economic benefits package to offer initially to your Indigenous stakeholders, including the development of communication materials and handouts aimed at highlighting these benefits and garnering project support.
• Lead or help with rolling out your Indigenous socio-economic benefits package to Indigenous stakeholders and securing their co-operation and support for your project.
Pre-Construction
• Lead or help with maintaining your relationships with Indigenous groups in a positive state and keeping them informed of project progress and managing their expectations during pre-construction and during any periods of delay that may occur.
• Lead or help your supply chain management department in developing SCM practices and processes for your project that will ensure you meet or exceed your Indigenous procurement targets, including revising your RFP process to allow your socio-economic requirements to become an integral component of your evaluation of a supplier’s total best value when competing for your work.
• Lead or help in identifying, prequalifying and managing your Indigenous supply chain, ensuring your Indigenous contractors and subcontractors are ready and able to execute their work requirements as expected, which is very important to successfully executing your project and maintaining positive relations with your Indigenous stakeholders.
Construction
• Lead or help you or your prime contractors in liaising with your Indigenous workforce and supply chain to address and resolve issues and problems arising from time to time potentially affecting your project’s safety performance, critical path or budget.
• Lead or help you or your prime contractors with tracking and maintaining various records related to how well you are meeting or exceeding your targets and commitments respecting Indigenous education, training, employment, procurement and overall spend; including the generation of periodic reports to regulators as required.
Post Construction
• Help you with your ongoing relationships with Indigenous stakeholders, including the development of any Indigenous policies or programs you may wish to revise or implement as a way to continue to grow your project’s positive impact and influence in the region and help your business to be more sustainable.
• Help you with the training of employees with respect to Indigenous awareness and sensitivity and the importance of maintaining good relations with your Indigenous stakeholders from the standpoint of corporate social responsibility, social license and sustainability.