In the News

TNDC profiled in The Vancouver Sun special series on Aboriginal business

TNDC was featured in a Vancouver Sun article on Friday, September 26, as part of the media outlet’s week-long series profiling successful Aboriginal businesses.

Titled First Nations Inc.: Tahltan-AltaGas partnership a win-win with the subhead Run-of-river participation is latest manifestation of a business culture dating back thousands of years, the story shines a spotlight on TNDC’s capabilities – an experienced and capable workforce backed by a comprehensive core business, which supports industry far-beyond fulfilling its duty to accommodate the Tahltan’s aboriginal rights.

The company to hire

Garry Merkel, TNDC CEO/president, reinforced the corporation’s ability to support industry through its service offering, specializing in heavy construction, metal fabrication and remote services, backed by partnerships and joint ventures with 27 other companies in services ranging from environmental work to ground transportation.  He shared TNDC’s objective to be competitive, both in quality and price, and said TNDC has “…proven time and again that we are the company you’d hire anyway.”

Benefits of a local workforce

David Cornhill, chairman and CEO of AltaGas Inc. – and one of TNDC’s industry partners – discussed the company’s partnership with TNDC on its $725-million run-of-river hydroelectric project.  He acknowledged the benefits TNDC’s local workforce, which provided such services as heavy equipment operation, road maintenance and camp facilities, brought to project.  “It was very helpful,” he said. “They know the environment, they know the land.”

A business culture

Garry also emphasized TNDC’s understanding of industry’s need for certainty and predictability, because TNDC is comprised of business people, driven by the entrepreneurial mindset of the Tahltan people.  “Our culture comes from a business culture,” he told the journalist. “We controlled the main trading corridor from the coast to the northern Interior for a few thousand years. It was who we were and what we are about, so that business kind of thinking is not foreign to us.”

You can read the full article on the Vancouver Sun website.