H o w  C C I B ’s  f l a g s h i p  a c c r e d i t a t i o n  p r o g r a m  t o o k  r o o t  a n d 
g r e w  t o  e x c e e d  a l l  e x p e c t a t i o n s
T
here was a time in Steve Francis’s 
father’s life when he couldn’t 
sell his own grain without 
somebody’s permission. Not 
his horses, not his cows, nor 
anything he had raised or grown 
could be turned into money to feed his 
family without someone else signing 
off on it first. 
“That’s changed now, but it’s still in 
our lifetime,” says Francis, a Cree from 
southwest Saskatchewan and longtime 
verifier for the flagship Partnership 
Accreditation in Indigenous Relations 
(PAIR) program at Canadian Council 
for Indigenous Business (CCIB). 
Now hold the image of Francis’s father 
next to Melanie Lizotte, a Métis facilitator 
and cultural awareness trainer, walking 
into a downtown Calgary boardroom 
to present an Indigenous Participation 
Plan for a major energy-sector infra-
structure bid. The daylong presentation 
touches on everything from employ-
ment and procurement to community 
investment and cultural safety in the 
workplace. “Indigenous relations are 
getting an equal percentage of value 
now within the bid package,” she says. 
“Equal to quality, equal to safety.”
The experiences of Francis and Lizotte 
represent two very different realities. 
Between them sits the PAIR program, 
formerly known as the Progressive 
Aboriginal Relations program or PAR. 
It was launched in February 2001 by 
what was then called the Canadian 
Fully integrated 
mechanical and electrical 
consulting engineering 
services. Encompasses 
MCW Hemisphere and 
MCW Maricor.
Design, development and 
delivery of engineered, 
single-source Energy 
Performance Contracts 
(EPCs) throughout the 
Canadian Public Sector.
Electrical Infrastructure 
Design Solutions for 
Power Transmission and 
Distribution for Utility, 
Industrial, Commercial 
and Institutional clients.
Specialty 
lighting design 
consultancy.
• ENGINEERING
• ENERGY
• LIGHTING
For any project questions, please reach out to: indigenous@mcw.com
www.mcw.com
10 A CCIB PUBLICATION  Fall 2026
PAIR 25TH ANNIVERSARY
PAIR:  
THEN AND NOW
By Bryan Hansen

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