The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Sepie 6 2006 - B7

| Alcan develops First Nations relations ©

By RICHARD PROKOPANKO

IN THE early years of Kitimat, Alcan focused main-
ly.on relationships with its employees and the local
community. Situated on the northwest coast, Kitimat
and Alcan were far away from the Lower Mainland.

For many years, we also perceived ourselves to be
far away from the Nechako Reservoir, which Alcan
engineers impounded in 1952, to feed water to the
generators at Kemano,

The Haisla First Nation across the Douglas Chan-
nel in Kitamaat Village were our nearest aboriginal
neighbours. Our relationship with the Haisla has al-
ways been cordial but until recently V was mostly ad
‘hoc.

Sometimes the relationship was managed with
great creativity. In the late 1970s Alcan created an
employment program to accommodate the seasonal
activities of the Haisla. And in the late 1980s Alcan
insisted on the very first hiring clause in B.C, that es-
tablished preferential hiring of First Nations for work
on the Kemano Completion Project. At other times,
though, the relationship would fall into neglect.

, Meanwhile, over on the eastern side of the water-

shed, there was another First Nation — the Cheslatta .

Carrier — who had been displaced by the creation
of the Nechako Reservoir. For years, they had seen

~.. Alcan as the source ofall their troubles and, for as
“ many years, there was little interaction between us —

and them. And T'use those words intentionally — it
was very much an “us-and them” situation.

‘One of the historical reasons for-this was that
all of Alcan’s early land transactions involving tra-

ditional First Nations’ territories had been with the

federal Department of Indian Affairs.
Alcan’s management-of the day, like other com-

panies during that era, believed that it was the fed-’
eral government’s responsibility to look after ‘the

interests of First Nations.

Alcan’s transactions were conducted fairly and
legally. And then Alcan got on with the business of
building a mega-project and creating a new B.C. in-

» thing — that we'd be spending a lot of time in court

. by legal consider-

dustry.

Forty. years later, the absence of any relationship
between the company and the Cheslatta would come
back to haunt us in the form of opposition to the Ke-
mano Completion Project, the production of a very
unflattering documentary film and, finally. two ma-
jor law suits.

During these years, the company ’s position with
respect to First Nations — and other stakcholders,

for that. matter— ¢
was driven largely —

ations. .

With the Del-
amuukw decision in
1997 that‘confirmed
the existence of ab-
original title in B.C.,
it was clear that a
new era was dawn- _
ing and that compa- —
nies were going» to
have to ‘re-examine -
their ; co-existence .
with First Nations. . _

With .the major- ”
ity of Alcan’s hold-
ings in B.C. located
within _ territories
claimed by various
First Nations, we recognized that continued reli-
ance on legalistic approaches would mean only one

7 Richard Prokopanko-

and a lot of money on lawyers. A

It was not an easy shift to make internally — — go-
ing froma mindset | that relied on contracts and iron-
clad legal agreements to one that involved accepting

the risk and uncertainty of relationship-building. But,

it was a shift we knew we had to make.
By this time, we had already, enjoyed consider-

_ able success in building relationships inthe Lower _
* Mainland and rebuilding relationships in communi-

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Highway 16 that had been strained by the
Kemano ‘Completion. debate. .

‘Apart from our experience with the Haisla over

many years, how to establish relationships with Cen-

tral Interior First Nations who viewed us largely as

adversaries was less clear to us.
We studied best practices among B.C. companies.

We sought advice from experts in First Nations re-

lationships. And. in 1998, we developed. tested, and
launched an-aboriginal relations strategy, based on

~ the principle that discussion and negotiation are the
. preferred way to address First Nations issues and to
protect our assets.

_ Fundamental to our. strategy was the belief that,
for a relationship to endure, it must be founded on
mutual benefits. Wenow have a‘formal relationship
with the Cheslatta on many levels. °

And: we now have a formal relationship agree-
I

ment with our Haisla neighbours that defines how
we will deal with each other and what the relation-
ship is meant to accomplish,

Today, we count the “Haisla, among our closest

friends and allies, and are involved with them in
" joint projects, capacity-building, environmental and

land-use initiatives, and educational programs.
: We introduced an internship program at our plant

“in Kitimat for promising young Haisla leaders. The
" program exposes them to corporate management.

practices that may be useful to them as they assume
their responsibilities i inthe community, °
As well, we're a partner in the Learning Strate-
gies Group Project with the Haisla, Simon ‘Fraser
University, Western Economic Diversification, and

‘the Vancouver Foundation.
This is a multi-year program to identify the ed-

ucational: needs of ‘the Haisla community, design
strategies to meet them, and — ultimately — open
employment doors for Haisla young people...”
We've learned key lessons through this process.
First, the support and commitment of senior com-

pany officers to a journey less certain than most cor-

porate ventures is essential. a a

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Personalities. and attitudes play a large role.

Openness. tolerance, and trust are the personality

traits most likely to produce results.

Have no doubt that, once:a relationship is estab- -
lished, there will'be demands. Some will be capable
of being accommodated within the principles that

have been defined. Others won't. But in the context

‘of a relationship. it's possible to discuss what works,

what doesn't, and how to move forward. _
From a corporate perspective, it’s not always easy
or obvious to justify the expenditure of upfront costs.

for long-term benefits that can only be proven over 7

time. First Nations will have to develop strategies to

avoid competing with each other lor corporate part-

nerships. —« 6
Governments need to be more proactive in rec-

_ognizing the contribution and benefits of productive

First Nations-corporate relationships,
First Nations and their corporate partners are very

~ capable of tackling: and solving individual issues.

However, more holistic approaches as to how all our

communities function together requires the involve-
ment of many more parties.
While most of what we've learned and 1 accom-

. plished in leaving the safe ground of legal obliga-’

tions to’ explore “uncharted territory has been in-
credibly worthwhile, some unexpected shifting of

‘continental plates. has occurred.

As we improve our relationships with First Na-

tions, some of our traditional . friends feel threat-
ened — most notably our hometown of: Kitimat.

They scem lo see their own position undermined’ ‘as

we reach out to others.

As. we're learning, this is one of many reasons ~

that a holistic approach is likely to be more success-

ful for our society than relationships developed ona °
one-on-one basis. But, until we get there, one-on-one

~ relationships are infinitely better than the absence of

relationships. :
Richard Prokopanko is-an Alcan corporate af-

fairs official. The above is an excerpt of a speech

given to the Vancouver Board of Trade.

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