may be bidding on work for the first time. “We have an incubator process where our specialized in-house experts will work directly with the business, or with the community if it’s community- owned,” Gladue says. “We may start them off at a smaller scale and help them get established processes in place. We’ve done that in snow removal, where we gave the company a small contract so they could build their experience.” Gladue stresses that it’s all about helping Aboriginal business grow and develop across Canada. “A lot of it is working directly with Aboriginal suppliers,” he explains, “giving them support to build their capacity, their capital, so they can make the invest- ments that will sustain their business growth and keep them in the business.” In the oil sands, for instance, safety standards are very rigorous, and a start-up Aboriginal supplier may find they can’t even get on the work site if they don’t get their safety act together first. Civeo works closely with the supplier to make sure they understand and meet all the safety requirements up-front. A high proportion of Aboriginal suppliers are still focused on the natural resources supply chain. But that’s slowly changing. A businessman like Tuccaro, who is good at big-picture thinking, believes the successful model he helped to develop can work in any sector of the economy. But that vision, he says, will only become a reality if more of corporate Canada establishes Aboriginal procurement policies the way a company like Civeo has. Even more important, however, will be getting the federal government to follow through on public sector set-asides for Aboriginal procure- ment, emphasizes Tuccaro. While the commitments have been made, getting action is another thing alto- gether. “Twenty years ago, Ottawa said they were going to work on a set-aside program for Aboriginal people in busi- ness,” he says. “If they actually follow through, and then you add provincial governments and municipalities, every city or town in Canada… If they all had the same mindset, imagine where we could be today. Imagine what a better place Canada would be.” SUPPLY CHAIN Tuccaro in action: the company provides goods and services to natural resources companies in the Oil Sands and beyond Canada’s environmentally conscious chemical distributor Dust Control Enviro Friendly Deicers Rydlyme Descaler Rydall Degreaser NovaTherm Heat Transfer Fluids Glycols Tank & Filter Rentals Water Treatment Polymers Enviro Friendly H2S Scavengers Drilling & Completions Oilfield Cementing Hydro Testing Fluid Rentals 75% Metis owned company serving Western Canada with convenient locations in Edmonton, Red Deer, Fort McMurray, Pincher Creek, and Grande Prairie www.novamen.ca | 403-348-5956 | info@novamen.ca 16 A CCAB PUBLICATION 2018