b'SUPPLY CHANGEThere was and is a need for the country to awaken not only to their ethical and moral responsibilities to economic reconciliation but to the incredible business case for it as well. Organizations, corporations and all levels of government. had to find ways to do business with Indigenous businesses.Tabatha Bull CCAB CEOtofindwaystodobusinesswithfocused on its data, industry relationshipsCCABs research team was instrumental Indigenous businesses. and stories of Indigenous entrepreneursin achieving these milestones. CCAB to try to influence policy.research showed that Indigenous entre-CCAB was aware that some non-Indig- preneurs could actually meet about 22 enous corporations had invested aCCABwenttoParliamentHillandper cent of the federal spend, but instead lot of time in their relationships withconvinced lawmakers to set a minimumwere only meeting 0.6 per cent. In 2019, Indigenous businesses because of theirtargetoffivepercentIndigenousOttawa finally took a significant step strong procurement practices. Theyprocurement. That target finally becametowards building economic reconciliation wanted to learn how to build on thesea mandate in 2019. This is a pivotalwith Indigenous peoples by announcing relationships. To assist with this, CCABmoment in harnessing the potential of thethat a target of five per cent of its procure-first looked to relationships being built onIndigenous economy, said Bull in a state- ment was to go through Indigenous busi-the other side of the planet, in Australia,ment in 2021, when further changes werenessesan estimated annual value of with help from Josh Riley, an Aboriginalmade and a date was set for reporting.$1 billion at the time. (Wiradjuri) from New South Wales.CCAB, along with Indigenous leaders past and present, have been advocatingToday we have over 1,500 certified Riley shared his insights on Aboriginalfor these changes. Todays announcementIndigenous businesses and over 150 procurement gleaned from findingsshows that we have not only been listenedbuyers using a two-way procurement when working with the Australian govern- to, but we have been heard. It is an incred- platform. Confidence, structure and that ment. He explained to then CCAB pres- ible moment to see our continued effortsmagnitude of participation take time to ident and CEO JP Gladu that they hadeffect change. build, says Bull. We are very proud of brought in an Indigenous organizational leader and a non-Indigenous organi-zation to work together to set procure-ment targets. So CCAB reviewed their own relationships with non-Indigenous organizations and identified Suncor as aNature-Based Carbon Credits possible non-Indigenous partner. CCAB reached out to Mark Little, the compa- Beneting the Indigenous nys COO at the time, with a proposition. Protected and Conserved Areas Mark didnt hesitate, says Gladu. So,Innovation Program we built it up. We started to ask other PHOTO: SALISH EYE PRODUCTIONScorporations to start to set targets becauseSuncoratthetimewasMove forward on climate action and doing $700 to $750 million a year onmeet your sustainable development Indigenous procurement.goals with nature-based solutions from the BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative. CCAB promoted a five per cent targetVisit BigCoastForest.com to learn more.for Indigenous procurement, and after securing the procurement commitments of several high-profile industry partners, it set its sights on government procure-ment using a three-pronged approach: it Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 57'