Sault College alumni wins prestigious Premier’s Award
By Rick Garrick
SAULT STE MARIE — Former Canadian Council for Indigenous Business (CCIB) president and CEO JP Gladu, a Sault College Forest Technician graduate in 1991, was recognized with the Business award at Colleges Ontario’s Premier’s Awards ceremony on Nov. 25.
“I was blown away — there were 17 individuals in my category, and really accomplished folks,” Gladu says. “When they called my name I was stunned. I was incredibly grateful to be there and the room was just energized, seeing all the excitement, and you look at a person like George Stroumboulopoulos, (a Humber Polytechnic graduate who won the Creative Arts and Design award), he was also an award winner last night. To be in the room with those fantastic people was a real honour.”
David Orazietti, president at Sault College, says Gladu has had an incredible career since graduating from Sault College.
“He has made an incredible career for himself working with and supporting Indigenous communities,” Orazietti says. “I am incredibly impressed by JP’s work ethic, dedication and determination to make a difference, and his career path has really been remarkable.”
Gladu and Carter Simpson, a Community Integration Through Cooperative Education Health and Fitness Promotion graduate in 2016, were nominated by Sault College for the Premier’s Awards.
“Our graduates not only enrich our Sault College community, but also leave a lasting mark in Ontario and around the world,”Orazietti says. “Through the Premier’s Awards, we can honour graduates who have made remarkable contributions across various fields. This year, we are proud to highlight two alumni whose stories inspire us.”
Gladu, founder and principal at Mokwateh and a Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek citizen, was also recognized with other awards this past year.
“This last year, I received an honourary doctorate degree from Carleton University, I won a National Public Policy Forum award,” Gladu says. “It’s been a wonderful year of recognition and it’s great, you spend your career working hard for your people and it’s a nice recognition.”
Gladu, who has also served on Suncor’s board of directors since 2020, has more than 30 years of experience in the natural resource sector, including working with Indigenous communities and organizations, environmental non-government organizations, industry, and governments from across the country.
“Having the ability to impact outcomes through the work we do for Indigenous people in Canada has been a position of honour and I’m grateful for it as well as to be participating at the highest levels of business in this country,” Gladu says. “Becoming a seasoned director on publicly-traded corporate boards like Suncor is also a big honour and privilege.”
Gladu launched initiatives such as The Aboriginal Business Report and spearheaded the Procurement Champions initiative while at CCIB, driving billions in investments into Canada’s Indigenous economy.
“It started out with building partnerships and allies with corporate Canada for them to make a commitment to procuring goods and services from Indigenous businesses and communities through development corporations, and that translates into stronger Indigenous communities and economies which produces stronger socio-economic outcomes as a result of those business activities,” Gladu says. “The [Aboriginal] Business Report is a way of celebrating Indigenous people. We need to see ourselves in the highest levels of business and success to know that our next generation can do it and even do it better, and for other Canadians to recognize the sophistication and depth of the Indigenous economy. It is important to celebrate the continued success of Indigenous business in this country.”
Gladu says he was the first person in his family to go to college, and his first job after college was working for First Nations across Ontario to improve their ability to participate in the forest sector, which drove great socio-economic and environmental outcomes.
“It gave me the confidence to know that’s where I fit within the Indigenous economy,” Gladu says. “Now my skill-set and breadth has obviously over the years expanded into all sorts of resource sectors, mining, oil and gas, policy, and I’m an international speaker on all sorts of Indigenous issues.”
Gladu says he also enjoys being on the land in his community, noting that his daughter recently harvested her first moose.
“In my career, I went on to get an undergraduate in forestry and then an MBA through Queen’s (University) and an ICD.D and now an honourary doctorate, and the fun thing for me is to bring that all back home, to move back to my community [and] to bring that skill, that network along with me to help my own community is very fulfilling,” Gladu says. “My daughter … is a college graduate as well from LaSalle (College) in Montreal, and she harvested her first moose a few weeks ago. Passing that knowledge is just so wonderful for me and for my father. She shot the moose, she did all the field dressing, she helped skin, my dad and her butchered the moose.”