Evidence of meeting #115 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was suncor.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay, so it would be 50% plus one aboriginal ownership, as well as a standard in terms of employment?
11:45 a.m.
Vice-President, Supply Chain and Field Logistics, Suncor Energy Inc.
Essentially, yes, but I'll get to the specifics on that with a follow-up note.
11:45 a.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Yes, we would appreciate it, because what the definition should be is one of the things we're looking at in the federal government's program, so we'd certainly welcome whatever detail you can provide on that front.
You also mentioned encouraging construction contractors to engage first nations employees, and I wondered if you could also speak to the role and involvement of building trades unions in that process.
11:45 a.m.
Vice-President, Supply Chain and Field Logistics, Suncor Energy Inc.
With the building trades unions, we think there is a big opportunity for capacity-training of aboriginal groups so they can be members of building trades groups and unions. We don't have any specific call-out to only employee aboriginal groups that come from these trade areas.
In influencing contractors, I mentioned that we believe they're an important available labour source in that area. It's not so much an issue today, but in the past trying to get labour into the Wood Buffalo region in Alberta was a challenge. It was a natural fit to use the resident workforce to increase our the capability there and not to have to worry about the transportation of migrant workers there.
I think we've been very successful with a lot of our big contractors to willfully and successfully employ aboriginal entrepreneurs in communities in that area. If I take a look at growth going forward, the hard work is getting started. I mentioned we just finished a very big project, and we're very satisfied with the quality of work that was done. Our contractor was very satisfied with the new aboriginal engagement they had. I think that's going to be how this is amplified, not just for Suncor, but, certainly, within that concentrated area, the next job they bid on for a competitor for Syncrude or whatever could very well have a bigger aboriginal content.
11:45 a.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
We invited both of our witnesses from Suncor here to gain a better understanding of your own procurement activities. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations for the federal government's procurement programs for aboriginal business?
11:45 a.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations, Suncor Energy Inc.
One of the things we certainly learned is that it's more than just about the procurement aspect of it. Procurement is an outcome, and what we do with the contracting is really about how you engage and how you work with the communities to better understand what is happening and what the capabilities are and how to build them. I would say that's a whole-of-government approach, because all departments in the government have some kind of engagement with aboriginal communities, but need to look more at how they can build those capacities so these communities can be part of the government procurement strategy.
If it's just housed in PWGSC or in Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, that's probably not the best approach, because I think that while those departments probably have the experts on the procurement side, that's not necessarily building the capacity of the federal government because the departments are all procurers as well.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for being here this morning.
Ms. Flood, you just addressed something that I would like to take up with Mr. Cheechoo, namely who should be responsible for administering this program, the PSAB.
If I understood correctly, you don't have a formal opinion on who should be administering the program for NWAC.
11:45 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Not at this point. I would have to look at that more closely.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
But do you agree with Ms. Flood that it has to be a whole-of-government approach, that procurement doesn't just concern one department?
11:45 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Again, the message is in the procurement process for government. In any outreach group, you're looking for formal focus outreach to indigenous women entrepreneurs.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
I think you also spoke a lot about the training on how to access all these programs and how lacking it's been in the past.
11:50 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Not to generalize, but indigenous women entrepreneurs know it exists, but they don't know how it connects to them, and we would like to see that connection.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
Training would be one of your definite recommendations.
11:50 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Training and a focused awareness campaign.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
And accessibility, because that's the other issue that you mentioned about remote regions where the Internet is not necessarily available, so the online submission of proposals is difficult.
11:50 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Yes, the process itself is challenging because of the need for a higher broadband, and remote communities tend to not have those broadband capabilities.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
How did you deal with that, Mr. McIntyre, with your remote communities?
11:50 a.m.
Vice-President, Supply Chain and Field Logistics, Suncor Energy Inc.
We're a very fair bidding company, so we accept all forms....
If we were doing some work in a remote community, and they could help us out, we would adjust our filing practices to whatever best suits them. We can go old-fashioned and have something submitted by paper. We're very accommodating to make sure we flush out the best people and groups to do the work.
11:50 a.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations, Suncor Energy Inc.
I think one-size-fits-all is really one of the things we would want to caution about. One-size-fits-all does not work with the communities with various capacity issues and capabilities. They take a little bit more, and that's why having that whole-of-government understanding of the communities in which they're working is important to draw on.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
That's precisely one of the things I've understood from this conversation. It doesn't fit all circumstances; there's a great need for flexibility in this issue.
The training issue is definitely very important, and I think it goes beyond native women. For all aboriginal communities, the accessibility of these government programs needs to be better known and explained from the government side.
11:50 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
That's true.
Further to that, we want to emphasize that there's even a bit more of a need when it comes to outreach to indigenous women. In the broad spectrum of saying “indigenous population”, the special needs of indigenous women get lost.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Alexandra Mendes Liberal Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC
On the issue with the bureaucracy, you mentioned that it always seems inaccessible, remote, or difficult to reach. Is it specifically with Indigenous Affairs or is it with the public service generally? What is specifically your issue with the bureaucracy?
11:50 a.m.
Director of Operations, Native Women's Association of Canada
Basically, there's no direct interaction, right?
