b'CCAB AWARDSand businesses. He is acutely aware ofCCAB director of events and awards,see the enormous impact these honou-the impact the awards have had on bothKate Maynard, agrees and has hadrees make in their homes, communi-participants and observers. Reinforcingthe honour of overseeing the CCABties, and often, across Canada. One of successbyshowcasingbusinessAwards program now for several years.the best parts though is seeing them success is so important for the future ofFor the first time, all five award recipi- through the eyes of their friends, family [Indigenous] communities, Summersents will be honoured at the nationaland colleagues. I think the Awards Gala says. Ive been on a number of juries40th Anniversary Awards Gala in Mayis going to be a very special event this now. I enjoy being involved and being2024 in Toronto. year. With recipients of all ages, from able to read about these people andacross the country, representing the hear their stories, which are so inspiring.We put a lot of effort into travelling to the communities of the award recipientsbeautiful diversity of Indigenous people Andre Morriseau, former director ofor going to places that are meaningfuland the life-changing contributions they awards and communications for CCAB,to them to tell their stories with authen- are making. Theres not going to be a says selecting award recipients entails farticity, says Maynard. In doing so, wedry eye in the ballroom.more than just perusing a stack of appli-cations. Each year, I would have to [help determine eligible nominees] and then we would go through a jury process to ascertain the winner. Then I would take the film crew and we would go out and film them in their environments and really get that behind-the-scenes part of their lives, Morriseau explains. We would do the interviews, develop the relation-ships, and then arrange to bring them to whatever city we were having the awards ceremony in. Weve built extraordinary relationships with so many exceptional people all across Canada.Morriseau looks back on the CCAB Awards program with great fondness and many positive memories. One that has stayed with him, he says, was when CCAB first launched its Indigenous Women in Leadership Award. Jody Wilson-Raybould was our inaugural IndigenousWomeninLeadership Award winner, and I was so excited because she was the Minister of Justice at the time, Morriseau recounts. My film crew and I went to her offices on Parliament Hill and got to interview her there.ForMorriseau,theCCABAwards program is fundamentally about sharing,the success of people who deserve to be applauded. Its about building that rela-tionship and making them feel honoured, he says. Indigenous people will often be very humble about their extraordi-nary accomplishments. I often had to say to them, Listen, your accomplish-ments are extraordinary. You need to share that with the young people. Share that with other entrepreneurs. Getting nominated and winning one of these extraordinary awards is an opportunity for them to share more. Its really all about them sharing their life story and their lifes work.Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 87'