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Northern British Columbia is an area often overlooked as a business opportunity Mecca but to Ramona Materi, President, Ingenia Consulting, it is rich with possibilities. So, she decided to write a “how to do business” guidebook. British Columbia's New North: How to Build Your Business, Respect Communities--and Prosper is for national and international investors, global contractors as well as “mom and pop” business owners who want to set up shop in the region. The information is practical, targeted and insightful into economy, gaps in the economy (both existing and pending) and tips from residents on living in this vibrant region.

 Here at Indigenous Corporate Training we get lots of questions from our blog visitors. A very common one is “does your online, webinar, onsite, or public training answer specific questions about specific communities?” Below is an example of one such interaction with the answer to the question provided further down.

Every so often a shining example of recognizing an opportunity to reach out and work with an Aboriginal community for the betterment of all comes along that really tugs our heartstrings. This is the story of how a bunch of kids scrabbled together some tools and lumber and built their own mountain bike park all on their own, and in doing so launched the impetus for a visiting community planning consultant, Patrick Lucas, to create the Aboriginal Youth Mountain Biking Program (AYMBP). The Aboriginal Youth Mountain Bike Program is a non-profit, volunteer driven program to assist and support Aboriginal youth and communities to participate and excel in the sport of mountain biking and this is how it all began.

One of our newsletter subscribers, Rod Cunningham, brought to our attention an online ad regarding exclusive accommodation rates for the Aboriginal community, and made this comment “A nice example of how business can be more inclusive and welcoming to Aboriginal Peoples.” So, we decided to find out more about the initiative and the impetus behind it.

"When a people can laugh at themselves and laugh at others and hold all aspects of life together without letting anybody drive them to extremes, then it seems to me that that people can survive.” Vine Deloria Jr., author, theologian, historian

The following First Nation Elder protocol question popped up in our inbox and we are really grateful for the opportunity to respond. We appreciate people taking the time to reach out to us with specific questions that will help them in their goal for respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

by Trevor Kehoe

by D.J. Vanas

by Deborah McCallum

Domcor Health, Safety & Security is a national company that provides fully integrated health and safety services, first aid, traffic control and security solutions. In BC, many of Domcor’s current and potential industrial clients typically operate in First Nations traditional territories, and want to provide training and employment opportunities to those communities. Domcor works with the First Nation communities to provide the capacity for the First Nation to be successful in engaging with the industry. Training needs are matched to the personnel requirements of the industries that are working in their territories and then Domcor further supports the project through employment opportunities. This is a relatively new initiative (February 2012) for Domcor and as such, Debbie Shea, Corporate Business Development Manager, wanted to take some training herself so that she was informed and aware of cultural nuances and protocols when working with First Nations People.