Photo Credit: Nick Vardy, Moccasin Media
Indigenous BUSINESS REPORT   25
TECH INNOVATORS
offering Waterhog Plus PET (polyeth-
ylene terephthalate) mats made from 
100 per cent post-consumer recy-
cled plastic bottles. The supplier had 
also developed an innovative flat-mat 
washing machine capable of washing, 
air-drying, and rolling mats without 
twisting or folding them. 
By investing in both the mats and the 
washing technology, Sanderson intro-
duced a 90-second cleaning process 
that uses significantly less water and 
energy than traditional linen-cleaning 
systems, while delivering flatter, safer, 
more durable mats. He also recognized 
the value of embedded RFID chips 
for tracking each mat and optimizing 
product management.
With the technology and materials in 
place, Askiy Mat launched with Suncor 
in Fort McMurray, starting with a single 
site and a few hundred mats. The differ-
ence, Sanderson says, was immediate: 
“We’d show up with a clean mat, take the 
dirty one, put the clean mat down, and 
suddenly the mats were gone. People 
from other parts of the plant would take 
them and say, ‘We need these mats in 
our facility.’”
Demand grew quickly. “We started 
with about 500 mats,” Sanderson says. 
“Then it was, ‘Can you do this site?’ ‘What 
about this one?’ Before we knew it, we 
had a couple thousand mats across five 
different Suncor and Syncrude sites in 
Fort McMurray.” After proving that the 
model worked locally, Askiy Mat began 
expanding beyond a single client 
and region by tapping into a broader 
network built around the same mat and 
washing technology.
Sanderson is proud of how far the 
company has come, particularly given 
its launch just ahead of the COVID-19 
pandemic. “When we talked to our banker 
this year, they said, ‘You’re the only one 
that actually made it through,’” he recalls. 
The safety impact has been just as 
meaningful. Since Askiy Mat took over, 
clients have eliminated mat-related 
safety incidents. Environmentally, says 
Sanderson, the results speak for them-
selves: “We’ve offset emissions equiva-
lent to the annual electricity use of just 
under 150 homes.”
Looking ahead, Sanderson is ener-
gized by the next phase of growth, one 
rooted in Indigenous ownership and 
long-term capacity building. He envi-
sions replicating Askiy Mat’s model 
nationwide through equity-based 
partnerships rather than surface-level 
collaborations. “We’re at a stage where 
we are transitioning to owning 50 to 51 
per cent equity of the Edmonton plant, 
and that model will move across the 
country,” he explains. 
With the washing technology already 
operating in Vancouver, Calgary, 
Edmonton, Regina and Ontario, the 
foundation for a national Indigenous-led 
network is firmly in place. However, for 
Sanderson, the goal isn’t just expan-
sion. It’s visibility, sovereignty and 
impact. His ambitions include seeing 
Askiy Mat’s name at the entrances 
of major industrial sites nationwide. 
“You’ll start seeing Askiy Mat signs and 
delivery trucks right across Canada,” 
he says, with each one representing 
an Indigenous business growing on its 
own terms, strengthening local econ-
omies, and proving that sustainability 
and safety can go hand in hand.
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