Indigenous-led Forward Summit announces new partnership

By Andrea Smith

CALGARY—The next Forward Summit will be bigger and better than the last one, with the help of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. CCAB recently partnered with the organizing team for the Summit, Connect Partnership Group LTD, in Calgary, in hopes of helping to accelerate Indigenous people’s economic growth in Canada.

JP Gladu is the President and CEO of CCAB, and the new co-chair for Forward Summit.

“By partnering and working in tandem with the Forward Summit, our efforts to build a sustainable and prosperous Aboriginal economy in Canada are stronger than ever,” said Gladu.

According to Gladu, CCAB was a founding member of the first Summit, which took place earlier this year in February, but they had not yet committed at that point to being a full-fledged part of the team.

This year’s Forward Summit brought together over 40 Indigenous communities, and hundreds of organizations, to meet and talk over the course of three days. Over 500 people attended overall. The goal was to have people come together to discuss possible partnerships and methods for economic growth for Indigenous people. There were roundtable talks, panels and workshops. It was a huge success, according to Gladu, who is happy to have CCAB firm up their support.

Connect Partnership Group LTD., is a non-Indigenous entity, he said, but because the plans for the first Forward Summit (and now the second, as well) were to help bolster Indigenous people’s economic power, CCAB was keen to help. CCAB supports both Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses in their development, added Gladu, so helping Connect Partnership Group with their aspirations aligns with CCAB mandates anyway. After witnessing the real benefit of that first Summit—for all people, but particularly the Indigenous crowd— CCAB is more than willing to stay on-board.

The next Forward Summit is set to take place at the Calgary Telus Convention Center April 28-29, 2020.

“The impetus for shift in the role is, you know, you go on a date first before you decide to get married… You want to make sure you like each other, and can appreciate the benefits that both partners bring together,” said Gladu with a laugh, describing CCAB’s feelings in the early stages of working with Forward Summit.

“We discovered we were able to work really well together, and the end result was a very dynamic conference that is supporting not only our Indigenous communities and Aboriginal businesses, but also the companies that are looking to do better work with us,” he said.

One of Gladu’s main concerns is that Indigenous people have been “managing poverty” for too long–meaning rather than participating in equal economic partnerships with Canadian governments and businesses, they have been placed in precarious financial situations with minimal assets and power to carry out business deals. CCAB strives to help Indigenous people create success and generate their own wealth—on both an individual level, as well as with whole communities—so the hope now is that Forward Summit will help with the cause. He says that even non-business people can benefit from the Forward Summit topics, including Chief and Council members in communities, who might benefit from knowing more about working with businesses.

“One of the big challenges and opportunities for our leadership is business… A lot of First Nations now have economic development corporations which are created by the Chief and Councils, and communities. Understanding liabilities and risks, and opportunities, and how to structure companies, how partnerships work, and understanding good governance… Those are the types of issues that are going to propel communities into stronger socioeconomic outcomes,” said Gladu.

The other primary goal of the Forward Summit, according to its organizers is to address Recommendation #92 of the TRC’s Calls to Action, which calls on the corporate sector to help with reconciliation efforts.

“We are honored to collaborate with CCAB, a global leader in Indigenous relationships and progressive programming. Together, we look forward to amplifying the many voices of Economic Reconciliation at Forward Summit,” said Miki Reeder, President & CEO of Connect Partnership Group, a key organizer of Forward Summit.

For more information go to: https://forwardsummit.ca/