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Community commitment
Any successful business will tell you that the secret to success will strongly be driven by employees , but also by strategic alliances . To that end , over the last six years , Brock Canada has been focusing on Canada ’ s indigenous community . “ We have always strived to give back to the communities in which we work as many of our own employees come from those communities . So , focusing on the indigenous communities was a natural path to take . To date , Brock Canada has established many alliances with indigenous groups that help to bring valuable resources to these groups , while meeting the needs of the growing industries in Western Canada . One of these alliances resulted in the formation of a partnership in 2018 between the Fort McKay First Nation and Brock Canada called Soogadin . The partnership is 51 percent owned by Fort McKay First Nation , and 49 percent by Brock Canada .
“ The partnerships have not only fostered positive relationships but have also delivered significant revenue back to the communities and brought about progressive change in workforce diversity . Through our Soogadin subsidiary , we are already the largest indigenous soft craft services provider in Canada , however , we aspire to be the largest overall indigenous employer in Canada . It may sound like a lofty goal , but we ’ re making headway to get there . When we started down this path , Soogadin had no employees , now , we maintain approximately 590 during peak time ; of which 113 are of indigenous descent . That ’ s a massive accomplishment of which we are proud .
“ Our indigenous strategy is not currently a very common practice throughout Canada , but we hope it will be in the future . It ’ s starting to become more of a focus for some companies
to bring in indigenous communities to support their projects . But their practice is far from the model of building a company like Soogadin that is structured as a limited partnership with First Nation peoples . The willingness to involve indigenous groups varies depending on where you are in Canada . Most are moving in the right direction , but I ’ d say we are a little ahead
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