As a corporation that operates on several Indigenous traditional territories and homelands, Babcock Canada (Babcock) is committed to building meaningful and mutually beneficial relations with Indigenous peoples, communities, and businesses. Across all our lines of work, Babcock strives to recognize and include the culture, heritage, and achievements of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples every day, year-round.
Babcock’s Community Engagement Manager, Jim, has played a key role in developing Babcock’s Indigenous relations strategy. We sat down with Jim to learn more about him, what his role entails, and what the future of Babcock’s Indigenous relations portfolio looks like.
Jim has been a member of the Babcock team for over three years and is a champion for economic reconciliation and Indigenous cultural awareness. He works with various departments across the business to progress Babcock’s engagement and establish long-term partnerships with Indigenous communities, businesses, and other stakeholders. Jim also actively engages with Indigenous communities through participation in various cultural activities, events, and sponsorships.
Prior to his time at Babcock, Jim worked in Natural Resource Management for the Ministry of Forests. Jim carried out First Nations consultation on several major work initiatives which led to him becoming a negotiator with the British Columbia Ministry of Indigenous Relations.
When asked about what led Jim to choose a career in Indigenous relations and community engagement, Jim stated:
“I didn’t really “choose” a career path in Indigenous relations, rather, it found me. I’d always been involved in community engagement off the side of my desk and the Indigenous relations part just naturally grew as my career progressed. I found it to be a very interesting, fulfilling, and challenging field. I looked for other opportunities to get training and be involved in related projects.”
Jim has played a crucial role in broadening Babcock’s understanding of reconciliation in Canada and the role Babcock can and should play. As a result, Jim has led the establishment of several new internal initiatives including the implementation of employee cultural awareness training and the Babcock Indigenous Employees’ Talking Circle. He has also enhanced Babcock’s work with several Indigenous communities, such as the Songhees Nation in Victoria. Throughout this process, Jim has focused on the importance of these partnerships and working collaboratively with Indigenous communities to ensure meaningful and mutually beneficial outcomes. This has been one of the most rewarding components of Jim’s work.
“Learning about Indigenous culture through the stories that Indigenous peoples have graciously shared with me has been an extremely rewarding experience as it has allowed me to gain a better understanding of Indigenous history in Canada. This history has a large impact on our everyday lives as it directly influences where we live and work.”
In 2025, Babcock was honoured to achieve Bronze level status within the Canadian Council for Indigenous Businesses’ (CCIB’s) Partnership Accreditation in Indigenous Relations (PAIR) certification program. Babcock was also recognized as an Indigenous Procurement Champion in the CCIB’s Supply Change Program. These achievements are a strong indication of Babcock’s commitment to Indigenous reconciliation and are being used as a framework to guide our work over the next several years as we strive towards Silver level certification. Both achievements were made possible by the extraordinary efforts of Jim and his team.
“Achieving Bronze level status was a major accomplishment for myself, my team, and for Babcock. It could not have happened without the dedication and hard work from the PAIR Working Group, the team members at Babcock who worked to deliver the PAIR Bronze submission. Members gave their time, expertise, and spirit to recognize, establish, and achieve all goals required for the certification. Our next challenge will be achieving Silver status. For Bronze, we showed what we will do to strengthen our Indigenous engagement; however, for Silver status we need to show what we are doing. This will require further collaboration across the business and a shift in our business paradigm to naturally include Indigenous participation in the way we do business.”
As a professional who has had years of experience working in Indigenous relations and community engagement, Jim shares his advice to individuals looking to work in this field:
“Make sure to listen. Indigenous culture is historically a spoken one and their communities preserve their histories through storytelling. Take the time to ask questions, then listen carefully to their responses. Learning about Indigenous cultures has been one of the most rewarding aspects of this career field. As well, respect. Give respect to the culture and learn as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, just ensure you do it respectfully. Make sure to enjoy the experience because getting the chance to see, hear, and understand the Indigenous world view is an honour.”
Thank you to Jim for your hard work and dedication in ensuring our Indigenous reconciliation framework is implemented in a meaningful way across all our lines of business.
