b'PROGRESSIVE ABORIGINAL RELATIONSThe PAR program has given us focus, form and substance and tells us how were doing. We employ 15,000 people coast to coast to coast, but were still a family business. Being a PAR member has made us better.Randy Moore Bee-Clean Building MaintenanceDavid Abbott has an interesting perspec-tive on the program. He is the VP of oper-ations and strategic initiatives at Origin, a Certified Aboriginal Business focusing on career advancement for Indigenous people. Previously, he worked with Bruce Power when the company was imple-menting the PAR program. Having worked at Bruce Power, I see its an excellent framework to drive meaningful engagement, says Abbott, who earlier also held the position ofCOO at CCAB. Abbott emphasizes that any company lookingintoPARshouldfocuson programs, not outcomes, working on authenticcommunityengagement to build trust and true collaboration. Really, its the process of developing the engagement and the frequency of those opportunities where you can have mean-ingful conversations with the community and ultimately get to the point where the community is an advocate for the work that youre doing together, he says.Erin Hickey is the quality manager and PAR Program Lead at her company, Pennecon Heavy Civil Ltd. in St. Johns, Newfoundland. She says PAR has brought beneficial relationships, opportunities and partnerships both to Pennecon andtoIndigenouscommunities and businesses. It has truly changed the way we do busi-ness, Hickey says. You know youve done something good when you come to a point in the relationship where you can call the community Chief and say, We have this project coming up or Industry has issued an Advanced Project Noticecan we talk about partnering? or Can we Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 43'