Corporate London teams up with Nokee Kwe to help meet economic reconciliation goals

London business owners looking to hire and diversify their workforce are being encouraged to consider Indigenous employees as an act of reconciliation that organizers say will also be good for the bottom line. 

A new program, led by the non-profit employment skills centre Nokee Kwe and supported by the London Chamber of Commerce, hopes to address two issues identified by employers: staff shortages and cultural representation in the workplace.

“Let’s not just envision an inclusive workplace, let’s become that change,” said Sharon Deebrah, the project manager for the First Employ Project for Business Reconciliation. “Collaborating and networking is the key to economic development.”  

The corporate sector was called upon in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to actively engage in reconciliation practices, including ensuring Indigenous peoples have equitable access to employment and training.

“Sadly, businesses across the country have not stepped up to their moral obligation under the TRC regulations,” said Graham Henderson, CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce.

“We were dismayed to see from a recent study that 31 per cent of businesses do not think that the calls to action applies to them. They thought it was only personal.”

Henderson said of the steps toward reconciliation that have been taken, including land acknowledgements and sharing educational resources, economic reconciliation remains a missing piece.

He hopes by connecting Chamber of Commerce members and others in corporate London to Nokee Kwe’s project, business leaders in London will have an easier time hiring and supporting Indigenous employees.

“Folks want to do this. They just don’t really understand how to do this,” Henderson said. 

The first order of business for the First Employ Project for Business Reconciliation is to conduct a survey with employers to understand where they’re at and what they want to know. After that, the data will be used to create recruitment and retention materials. 

“I’m very optimistic about this. This is a changing culture and people are far more open to learning after learning the details of the residential schools. People are interested in opening their doors to our community,” Deebrah said. 

She said more information for getting involved will be coming soon. 

LISTEN: Nokee Kwe organizers and the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce explain the goals

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US business leaders are pushing back against years of corporate diversity efforts

By Elizabeth BennettFeatures correspondent

Getty Images Bill Ackman, chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP (Credit: Getty Images)Getty Images
Bill Ackman, chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, pushed back on DEI policies in an X post (Credit: Getty Images)

Diversity, equity and inclusion policies have become the norm at many companies. As some notable corporate leaders reject the approach, is a DEI backlash brewing?

Elon Musk used his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on 3 January to tell his 168 million followers that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was “just another word for racism”. Musk added his comments in a retweet of American hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, who had posted a long criticism of DEI policies, following his successful calls for the resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first black and female president.

In the same week, Chip Wilson, founder of activewear brand Lululemon, made headlines in a Forbes profile when he spoke out about the “whole diversity and inclusion thing”. The former CEO (Wilson left the company in 2013 but still remains a major shareholder), criticised Lululemon for wanting to be “everything to everybody”, and called the brand’s inclusive advertising imagery “unhealthy”, “sickly” and “not inspirational”. 

For the past several decades, corporate DEI policies have become an increasing priority, embraced by leaders of major businesses. Katleen De Stobbeleir, professor of leadership at Vlerick Business School, Belgium, says DEI has been a prominent theme since the 1960s, but the focus has amplified in the past decade. “It used to be a ‘nice to have’, and something for the more advanced companies. But today it has become a qualifying minimum and a topic that has received more attention from the C-suite.” 

Yet some of the same kinds of high-profile leaders who embraced the inclusive policies are now publicly critical of them.

Alamy Chip Wilson, founder of activewear brand Lululemon, criticised the brand for its inclusive advertising imagery, calling it "not inspirational" (Credit: Alamy)Alamy
Chip Wilson, founder of activewear brand Lululemon, criticised the brand for its inclusive advertising imagery, calling it “not inspirational” (Credit: Alamy)

Sankalp Chaturvedi, professor of organisational behaviour and leadership, and associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion at London’s Imperial College Business School, says extensive research has shown “when gender, ethnicity or any form of the diversity are on the table, quality of discussions and decision-making is better, creativity is improved and the performance of the organisation and its culture is stronger”.

Yet despite this, these programmes are increasingly landing in corporate crosshairs.

Chaturvedi says the current public pushback is

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Unleash small business by exempting them from corporate taxes

We’ve got to stop stifling our entrepreneurs by taxing them into the ground and making them jump through countless bureaucratic hoops

Published May 02, 2023  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  3 minute read

Small businesses are often described as the backbone of our economy — and that’s because they are. They develop new products and technologies that drive economic growth and create new jobs. But if small businesses are so important, why aren’t we doing more to support their success and foster even greater growth?

Small businesses bore the brunt of the economic fallout during the pandemic. The on-again, off-again lockdowns dried up revenue, drove away customers and made employee retention very difficult. I often wonder how many of the small businesses that went under during the pandemic could have become another Magna International?

Legendary entrepreneur Richard Branson famously said that all big businesses start small. When I started Magna, I opened up a one-man shop in a rented garage at the corner of Dufferin and Dupont streets in Toronto. I bought

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