SUPPLY CHAIN When Fort McKay and Mikisew Cree First Nations completed the $503-million acquisition of a 49-per-cent ownership stake in Suncor’s East Tank Farm Development last November, it gave some idea of just how far Aboriginal business had come in Canada in just a couple of decades. It also provided a resounding demonstration of the value Aboriginal suppliers can contribute to some of corporate Canada’s biggest players. One of Mikisew Cree First Nation’s best-known members is Dave Tuccaro, president and CEO of the Tuccaro Group of Companies. Described as a “rock star” of Aboriginal business in Canada, Tuccaro is at the helm of a large business network involved in providing goods and services to natural resources companies operating in Alberta’s oil sands and beyond. Tuccaro companies specialize in providing services to remote camps at natural resources extraction sites in northern Alberta. They supply every- thing from water haulage, wastewater disposal and road building to heavy equipment, safety gear and food. Tuccaro also has substantial holdings in real estate. Dave Tuccaro has been an Aboriginal entrepreneur for decades, so he has seen firsthand the massive changes that have happened as Aboriginal business has come of age. “I helped to start an Aboriginal business associ- ation in Fort McMurray 20 years ago,” he recalls. “Back then, there were only eight native businesses supplying goods and services to the oil sands. We estimated that we collectively generated about $20 million in annual revenue. Today, there are 130 busi- nesses and over a billion dollars in revenue.” Tuccaro credits visionary corporate leadership and the role it plays in giving Aboriginal companies like his own the opportunity to participate in the supply chain. It’s still an important factor today, and it was even more important back then. “One of the things I faced early in my career was the challenge that Aboriginal people had to access procurement opportuni- ties in corporate Canada,” he says. “For me, it was mostly oil companies – Syncrude, Suncor, Shell. And initially BY ANDREW BROOKS ABORIGINAL BUSINESSES ADD VALUE TO THE SUPPLY CHAINS OF CANADIAN CORPORATIONS SUPPLY-SIDE SUCCESS A Civeo build: the company regularly contracts Aboriginal businesses for everything from security to waste disposal 14 A CCAB PUBLICATION 2018