PAR takes shape with the help of corporate Canada

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The Progressive Aboriginal Relations program (PAR) began as a germ of an idea in late 1998 and began to take form in the mind of Jocelyne Soulodre, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), in early 1999.

A steering committee was formed of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal business people, from both large and small companies, and began to work through a process to discover what the program should look like.

A Progressive Aboriginal Relations workbook was drafted and a pilot project launched in the spring of 2000. In the pilot were four companies: Xerox Canada, BP Canada Energy Company, Casino Rama and Donna Cona.

"I didn't want to put out material that was not clear, or was incomprehensible, or didn't work," said Soulodre, "so we though that by pilot testing it, in a real world way, that we would probably come out in the end with a better program, which is what happened."

As its part in the pilot, Xerox assembled a team of about 10 people from a variety of departments within the organization, including some very senior people, to work through the first draft.

"We had questions going through it," said Xerox spokesman Lee Ahenakew. "There were times when we didn't know how to answer the question."

Xerox was able to give CCAB some feedback on areas where there was some confusion or where there were areas missed, and with that, and the feedback from the other companies, CCAB went back to the drawing board for draft two.

"They weren't getting it when they were reading the material," said Soulodre, "so we went through, all told, probably three rewrites of the material."

As they were rewriting the program, more thought was given to what would encourage companies to dive in, she said.

Xerox worked through the final draft of the PAR workbook between October 2000 and January 2001.

The process was a valuable one.

"I think the most valuable thing about it," said Ahenakew, "is it gave everyone at Xerox a goal to work towards and made everyone look really closely at our business planning process. When it comes to community activities and supporting the community, it's not always done in a business fashion. You don't take the same thorough process, in most cases. This really made us go through a thorough process and to make sure we weren't missing any part of Aboriginal relations."

Ahenakew said it pulled the Xerox team together and got them focused on a goal -the PAR certification process.

"It made us really evaluate the things we're doing in a proper way and gave people the step by step process on how to look at Aboriginal relations in a comprehensive way, to make sure we are doing everything we can to work with the Aboriginal community."

For its part in the process, Casino Rama's goal was to help create a program that was practical.

"We didn't want it to be intimidating or too onerous for the companies," said spokesman Kevin Wassegijig. It was important that the program be useful to the companies involved.

He said the PAR process helps companies not only focus on Aboriginal relations, but open doors for the many other ways companies can make a difference in the Aboriginal community.

"Whether it's through an internship program or lending their expertise maybe on a committee, getting involved in the community in other ways. In term of a financial relationship, those are always good, but, you know, there are other ways that companies can help out the community."

A major challenge faced by the program was to make it adaptable to both large and small companies, local and national.

"We wanted the program to be inclusive rather than exclusive and a small company, maybe a five person operation, maybe they're able to sponsor a kids hockey team from the local community, or maybe make a contribution to the girls baseball team. That means something and those kinds of things can be measured through PAR and verified and it's not set up so they can't participate."

With the bugs worked out by the end of last yar, the PAR program was ready for the business community and 10 companies jumped into the process.

'It was a logical thing for us to do," said Camille Therrien, business development and Aboriginal relations director for Sodexho Merriott Services, a catering and housekeeping company that operates Canada-wide. He said one of Sodexho's vice-presidents was part of the steering committee that helped set the parameters of PAR.

"We could probably be certified bronze right away, but we decided not to do so. We wished to go step by step, make sure that our plan is achievable, the objectives are achievable, that we will meet and maintain them."

The program, said Therrien, is not difficult to work through if you are committed to doing what you state you want to do.

"It must not be taken lightly. Certainly not. You know, being certified is one thing. Keeping the certification is another."

He said there is only one thing worse than not being certified, and that is losing the certification because you can't maintain your commitment.

The first draft of Sodexho's workbook plan went to its president at the end of February. The company's goal is to be verified at the bronze level by December.

Hilary Rebeiro thought the PAR program was a natural fit. Rebeiro is the general manager of Pirqusaijit, located in Canada's newest territory, Nunavut, an administration company for several Inuit development corporations involved in real estate.

"When I heard about it and I heard about the four criteria I thought to myself, 'we are doing all of these things. Why shouldn't we be a part of this, even though we're small?' And I spoke to Jocelyne and said 'we'd like to volunteer Pirqusaijit to be one of these companies.' And she said, 'Oh, they'd be pleased to have us.'"

Pirqusaijit is at the beginning of its journey through the workbook, but it's hoping to be a pioneer for other companies in Nunavut that are not aware of the PAR program, or the CCAB.

"By raising this awareness and getting this rcognition it would cause other companies to come forward and be more of an active player in the CCAB umbrella, which I think is a fine, worthwhile and honorable type of program to be part of," he said.

With a silver level PAR hallmark tucked into its portfolio, Donna Cona couldn't agree more.

"We're really excited about this, but we need more companies to come on board and participate in the program and really make a difference within the Aboriginal community," said Anna Molley, manager of marketing and business development. "To me that's success."