Partnership with Aboriginal groups key to future for company

The company that won this year’s Premier’s Award of Distinction says that working with Aboriginal groups and businesses is key to the company’s future.

“It is a recognition by the business community that PTI Group is doing something good,” said Stephen Crocker, manager of Aboriginal relations for PTI Group, an Edmonton-based subsidiary company of Oil States International, based in Houston, Texas.

Not only is the company making an effort to hire Aboriginal people, they are keeping them.

Crocker said since they started tracking the numbers a year ago, they have hired 200 Aboriginal people. One year later, 81 per cent of those are still working for the company.

PTI also hires Aboriginal companies as contractors or works in a partnership with them. A good example of that success is the partnership PTI has with Buffalo Métis.

“Our Aboriginal partnerships are very important to PTI Group, for future growth and to sustain our existing business. The number one priority of our Aboriginal partners is employment of their members,” Crocker said.
Last year, PTI’s contracts with Aboriginal businesses were worth $16 million.

There is one key ingredient to keeping those relationships strong and fruitful, Crocker said.

“Our partnerships are based upon sharing of information, two way communication, transparency and most of all trust. Formal meetings happen on a quarterly basis with working sessions in between. All of this is a commitment on both sides, the more we work together, the better the results, and trust is the result.”

Winning the Premier’s Award wasn’t expected as the company had applied under the Aboriginal Best Practices category and did not win it.

At the end of the evening when the awards were handed out, “we were completely surprised,” said Crocker, when it was announced PTI Group had won the Premier’s Award.

The Premier’s Award is presented annually by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce. The criteria include showing outstanding achievement and leadership in the province along with ongoing involvement in community events and organizations. The finalists from each category of the ACC’s annual awards event are automatically nominated. PTI did not win the category it was in but was a finalist.

The ACC said PTI was chosen for the Premier’s Award because of their support for local businesses and how they acknowledge First Nations’ rights and addressed environmental and cultural concerns.

“This support has allowed many of PTI’s Aboriginal contracting partners to win contracts and develop start-ups into successful and thriving businesses,” said the ACC in a news release, when it announced the winners.