NationTalk: MONTREAL: SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC), a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world, is pleased to announce the launch of Indigenous E3, a special purpose limited partnership formed between SNC-Lavalin and Indigenous Community and Engagement (ICE), a leading firm in Indigenous stakeholder engagement that specializes in developing Reconciliation-rooted approaches to advance Indigenous socio-economic development in Canada.
“When I signed SNC-Lavalin’s Commitment to Indigenous Peoples in 2020, it was with the full intention of embedding those principles into everything we do,” commented Ian L. Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, SNC-Lavalin. “As stewards of the natural and built environment, we can engineer better lives, and greater prosperity for people around the world. That includes for Indigenous communities, where we are undertaking a broad-based effort to increase collaboration and partnering on initiatives like Indigenous E3 to create generational prosperity.”
“E3” refers to “Earth, Environmental and Engineering”. Indigenous E3 (IE3) will work to identify and deliver projects that support Indigenous advancement and long-term prosperity. IE3 will enable Indigenous communities to access SNC-Lavalin’s unique end-to-end capabilities on projects that include Indigenous ownership set-asides for bidders, while also strengthening SNC-Lavalin’s ability to successfully win and deliver Indigenous-endorsed projects where ownership considerations are not a requirement, but where the specialized expertise of an Indigenous-engagement firm will be materially additive to the Company’s ability to win and execute work for Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
While Indigenous E3 will initially focus on assisting communities on mandates falling within the delivery of SNC-Lavalin’s Engineering Services group, the partnership will bring the expertise of the entire company to both where and how Indigenous groups need it, across all of SNC-Lavalin’s business lines. The Company’s ability to deploy its global expertise locally to public and private clients will be replicated for Indigenous partners, with our leading capabilities delivering solutions across transportation, buildings & places, industrial & mining, water, power & renewables, defense, and nuclear made available.
“We are all Treaty people, and we all have a part to play in continually strengthening the way our Company, and society at large, interacts with Indigenous communities,” said Ben Almond, CEO, Engineering Services Canada, SNC-Lavalin. “But it’s important to recognize what we can do well ourselves, and what we can do better when we bring Indigenous partners to the table with us. We know that well-engineered communities — ones that have good transportation systems, dependable energy grids and transmission networks, robust social and housing infrastructure, reliable utilities, and developed commercial infrastructure to support advanced industries —are prosperous communities. With Indigenous E3, we are staying true to our mission of engineering a better future for our planet and its people.”
“As a Certified Aboriginal Business, I see a lot of potential for career opportunities for Indigenous professionals such as technicians, engineers, and environmental scientists,” said Derek Chum, VP of Strategy and Growth at Indigenous Community and Engagement. “The national reach of Indigenous E3 will help get our current and future Indigenous team members exposure to new and exciting projects across Canada. Economic reconciliation will only be realized when Indigenous companies are given the opportunities to bid in the corporate and public sectors. With the federal government’s commitment to create a new target to have at least 5% of federal contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses, we believe we are one among many Indigenous enterprises ready to respond.”
Broader Approach to Indigenous Relations
SNC-Lavalin’s Indigenous Relations program is a core part of the Company’s strategy. It supports our commitment to establishing and maintaining mutually respectful and meaningful relationships between Indigenous communities, our clients and our Company. Some of SNC-Lavalin’s initiatives through our Indigenous Relations program include:
- Being independently certified as a procurement champion from Indigenous-owned business in Canada, by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
- Volunteering our expertise and assistance in Ground Penetrating Radar technology — an effective tool to identify possible locations of burial sites — to Indigenous communities to help bring a degree of closure and peace for families impacted by the legacy of the residential school system in Canada
- Supporting the success of the next generation of Indigenous youth with ongoing annual funding of multiple academic bursaries and scholarships
- Requiring all Canadian-based SNC-Lavalin employees to enroll in comprehensive training to improve awareness and understanding of Indigenous history and communities
SNC-Lavalin has undertaken multiple notable projects for and with Indigenous communities in Canada. Click here to read more about some of this work.
About SNC-Lavalin
Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, technology and data to design, deliver and operate the most complex projects. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital – and delivered to clients in key strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear, Operations & Maintenance and Capital. News and information are available at snclavalin.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.