CCAB celebrates

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The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) celebrated a milestone in February. It was their 20th anniversary of developing business partnerships.

"What we do really is build bridges between the Aboriginal community and the corporate sector. We develop tools and resources that can be used to engage that market place and broker relationships, whether it's between individuals, communities of Aboriginal people, or specific businesses, but that's what we do," said Jocelyne Soulodre, president and CEO of CCAB.

CCAB was the brainchild of Murray Koffler, the founder of the largest retail drug store chain in Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart. It was during a visit to Calgary in 1982 that he witnessed the many homeless and hopeless Aboriginal people in that city. With Calgary in the midst of a construction boom, Koffler could not believe that anyone would have to endure such dire living conditions.

Following his visit, Murray Koffler spent the next year consulting with both Native and non-Native business leaders in a series of think tank sessions in an effort to evaluate the role of the private sector in increasing the economic self-reliance of Aboriginal people. In 1984, CCAB was born.

Today, CCAB runs a number of programs that link corporate Canada with Aboriginal communities. The Circle for the 2015 dinners are networking events that create awareness within the corporate community of the opportunities that exist to do business with Aboriginal people. The Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) program honors the accomplishments of companies that develop business relationships with Aboriginal communities and provides a hallmark of that achievement, either bronze, silver or gold.

The Foundation for the Advancement of Aboriginal Youth (FAAY), established in 1994, has awarded scholarships and bursaries to more than 130,000 Aboriginal youth. Between 1986 and 1996, CCAB also ran the Native Management Internship Program, whose alumni includes Tom Horvath, who works in Aboriginal relations for Burlington Resources, author and playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, former hockey player and coach Ted Nolan and Laura J. Milliken, founder of Big Soul Productions.

"It was a very successful program that, over the years, placed 750 Aboriginal people in jobs right across corporate Canada. In the North, from east to west, in the Maritimes, everywhere, there are still people you will find who will say 'I was an intern at CCAB'," said Jocelyne Soulodre.

The Seven Generation Campaign is the fund-raising arm of CCAB. Corporate sponsors contribute to the operation of the organization, rather than CCAB having to rely on government funds.

"When I started it wasn't easy. We were in debt, we owed a lot of money to the bank and the government wasn't giving us any money anymore. And I said 'You know what? It shouldn't anyway'. We're supposed to be a private sector response," said Soulodre. CCAB climbed out of debt and has been on firm financial footing now for the past five years.

CCAB celebrated its anniversary at its sixth annual gala dinner for the Circle for 2015 in Toronto Feb. 17. The focus of this year's gala was on young entrepreneurs. But CCAB took the opportunity to announce its plans to establish an Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame.

"We believe that the time is right and that we've achieved a critical mass that we should start to recognize Aboriginal business leaders in their own hall of fame," said Soulodre.

"We're doing something real and tangible that's going to make the world a better place for Aboriginal people. The companies that are paying attention to PAR now, one of the hopes that I had for the PAR program was that, given that we don't have a penny to advertise it with, that I knew it would take a while for the word to spread. But we now have 25 companies that are in the program, either at commitment or standing, and that number just goes up all the time. All of it is just really, really positive i terms of doing something tangible. Not just talk, not just wasting money, or inventing something that isn't useful. The work that we do is tangibly making a difference."