CEO's Message

CEO Message - July 2022

It is my honour and privilege to have joined the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) team and I am excited to be working for the Tahltan Nation, whose progress and achievements are well documented. 

TNDC has come a long way, including playing an instrumental role in the development of Northwest British Columbia, and is poised to continue to grow and diversify its service offerings.  I applaud all who came before me for your hard work and dedication to TNDC.  And to those who have worked for and/or contributed to TNDC along the way – thank you. TNDC has achieved all it has because of you.

Our revenues and scope of operations have grown, the number of people we employ has increased, we have expanded into new business areas (e.g., airport services and fibre optics), and are working with more sophisticated Tier 1 clients. In February, we came together as a full leadership team to discuss our business, where we are at and where we need to be. We developed a plan that provides us with an immediate plan and structure that is needed to assist TNDC in its journey. The result is a road map to long-term business sustainability which identifies high priorities in each business area and helps guide us into the future.

At an overarching level, in 2022 and into 2023, we will be focussing on:

• Meeting the operational demands of our clients while ensuring a safe working environment for our people.
• Developing systems and processes to help meet the demands for today and the future.
• Enhancing communication protocols to assist in keeping employees, clients and shareholders informed.
• Developing our people by providing the tools and skills to succeed and grow within the corporation and partnerships.
• Assist in developing the capacity of the community to elevate Tahltan employment.

Health & Safety

We have hired a new Health, Safety & Environment Manager to enhance our safety culture, improve our safety performance, and ensure compliance, with a focus on training, mentorship, responsibility, accountability and reporting.

Human Resources

Investment in our people resources are imperative to deliver on our client commitments, to sustain and grow our business. At the leadership level, we require highly qualified professionals with the qualifications and experience necessary to manage TNDC business divisions, who can also support their teams with high-level direction, guidance and mentorship. TNDC is striving to be an employer of choice. This requires attracting and retaining employees by providing competitive wages, training, support and opportunities to grow careers. We are also targeting the growing talent pool of Tahltans, fostering capacity building through training.

Finance & Accounting

TNDC is investing substantially in resources to enhance our financial and accounting practices, procedures, and protocols to better serve our clients, employees, partners and shareholders.  In addition to hiring a Chief Financial Officer, bringing financial reporting back in house, and upgrading accounting software, we are implementing several initiatives to enhance corporate governance, financial transparency, quarterly reporting, and budget tracking.

Operations

The outlook for our business remains positive but requires investment to deliver on our client commitments. Growing ownership of our fleet and better integrating management software will be key to managing these assets. There is positive growth potential with our major resource-based clients (Red Chris mine, Eskay Creek Revitalization project and KSM Project), while we are also pursuing regional contracts for our Heavy Construction Division.  We need to be mindful on the economic environment that we are operating in but we are taking the necessary steps to manage the risks that we all face.

The future is bright

It is an exciting time for our company and TNDC’s future remains positive. With several strategic business plans in the works, TNDC will continue to be a substantial player in creating growth and prosperity for the Tahltan Nation, in one of the most remote and beautiful regions of our Province.  With the right tools, systems and processes in place to increase our capabilities, we will foster a financially strong, sustainable community owned business that employees can take pride in working for, clients and partners can take pride in working with, and the Tahltan Nation is increasingly proud of owning.