Building Bridges in Vancouver Communication spans cultures - multicultural aspects of business and training in British Columbia

Training & Development, May, 2001 by Haidee E. Allerton

"There's no generally accepted definition of what First Nations means," says Joseph, "but the term refers to a homogenous group identified by the Canadian government and doesn't distinguish between bands or tribes. Working with them is no different than if a Canadian company wanted to do business in Japan. You wouldn't go over to do that without a lot of information about the culture, the practices, and the approaches--and most important, what values they have and what values you have as an organization, because it ultimately can boil down to a difference of values as your friction point.

"Our training model is about building relationships and the philosophy is that if you have a good relationship, it really doesn't matter what happens in the long run...we'd be positioned for whatever change was coming our way regarding treaties, agreements, and so forth."

In addition to Joseph's degree and professional certification, his First Nations status as a member of the Gwawaenuk tribe, one of the many tribes that make up the KwaKwaKa'wakw people, is pivotal to the training. He points out that it's essential to show that you recognize aboriginal constitutional rights before any business discussion. "You can't act as if you're going to talk to just another stakeholder," he says.

"As historic relationships between the federal government and First Nations change, the structures in place are changing. Bands that don't wish to be identified as bands anymore change their names. BC Hydro might find itself dealing with a First Nations group that has 24 different bands as part of the tribal council," says Joseph.

There's a history of land disputes over aboriginal rights and titles, particularly having to do with hunting and fishing--the fishing being something dear to Joseph's heart and his favorite escape. The tenor of negotiations between First Nations and the Canadian government with regard to BC Hydro has been, "What can we do to keep the lights on in British Columbia?" BC Hydro needs access to aboriginal lands, and it wants aboriginal groups to choose it as their energy supplier of choice. In fact, aboriginals serve as the subject matter experts for Hydro's cross-cultural awareness program, and about 5 percent of the utility's customer base is aboriginal.

Says Joseph, "Before we take a training package to employees, we take it to various First Nations organizations and say we need to provide our employees with reasons we're trying to build relationships with First Nations people. What are your thoughts? Initially we did it quite a bit, and we continue to." BC Hydro also sponsors scholarships for aboriginal students in subjects including art, information technology, and zoology.

Joseph travels across the province delivering the program, which is organized into three levels:

Level 1: Introduction. A review of the business case for an aboriginal relations strategy; historical and cultural information about the diverse aboriginal population; an overview of tribal and political structures, as well as aboriginal issues and approaches to resolution; background on treaties; and relationship building and how to do business with aboriginal people, including protocol. Basically, why Hydro employees need to know this.