Photo: George Gordon Development Limited (GGDL) CEO Don Ross speaks to the attendees at the annual partnership forum in Regina. / Photo by Danielle Dufour
By Danielle Dufour
George Gordon Development (GGDL) hosted their fourth annual partnership forum for the first time in Regina on Thursday.
“It’s been growing every year to the capacity where we have the entire Hotel Saskatchewan booked right now,” said Brad Spence the Director of Training and Employment for GGDL. “We have 30 CEO’s, business leaders from across Western Canada … crown corporations, presidents of mines, presidents of potash companies.”
“We’re here to learn from each other and renew our partnerships and kind of work our supply chain under the GGDL umbrella,” said Spence.
Don Ross, the CEO of GGDL spoke to the audience and said, “And I tell our people that I tell our partners and industry and government, the success of GGDL is based on our structure … created by our leadership, they had the vision.”
Photo of Chief Longman and council / Photo by Danielle Dufour
The structure was initiated by the board made up of the Chief and council 15 years ago.
Chief Shawn Longman of the George Gordon First Nation see’s this forum as a ‘good start towards business development opportunities for our band members.”
“Part of it is for me to help build self-esteem within our youth,” said Chief Longman. “To show them that being from George Gordon means that you have these opportunities, it means that you’re proud of who you are and where you came from.”
Chief Longman identified how the youth’s education can be geared towards the work that is coming through these industry partners and future partners.
“The biggest takeaway is that we can work together as a First Nation and on First Nation people, just like the treaties intended,” said Chief Longman. “Those treaties were intended for us to come together, shake hands and both mutually benefit from all the wonderful natural resources that are available in our country, where I feel like we’re finally fulfilling a part of that treaty, and it’s not through the government, it’s through industry partners.”
As the band starts benefiting from the revenues earned in these partnerships, Chief Longman noted that the Chief and council will meet with band members to ask them where they would like to see the money go.
“We want to continue to reinvest in our community and provide opportunities to help people become self-sufficient and prosperous,” said Chief Longman. “One of the ways our urban members are going to benefit is because of our huge urban reserve … that’s going to be the biggest urban reserve in Canada and we want to develop that and have our urban people have opportunities to open businesses or whatever we’re going to do with that land that’s meant for their benefit also.”
This urban reserve will be situated near Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Regina.
Mike Moscarda, a General Manager at BHP Potash spoke to the attendees and stated the Jansen Mine stage one is expected to come online mid 2027, and the Jansen stage two is expected to be fully operational by 2031.
“We’re looking really forward to getting our product and our potash out to the market,” said Moscarda.
Over the duration of the project, BHP is expecting to create over five and a half thousand jobs, and as they move into operations, creating another 900 long-term roles.
“The relationship with George Gordon is absolutely critical,” said Moscarda. “We’re here today supporting George Gordon and actually also celebrating our six-year partnership that we’ve got with them, but I think for BHP, it’s really around listening and learning.”
Photo of BHP Mike Moscarda and GGDL CEO Don Ross
GGDL CEO Don Ross see’s a positive future for George Gordon First Nations.
“We’re training our young people, we’ve got 30 apprentices going through this system right now,” said Ross. “It’s just a matter of being part of the economy and working towards that and the economy in Saskatchewan and the outlook for Saskatchewan I think is great. There’s a lot of major projects happening and I think we just want a piece of our pie with those opportunities.”
Ross noted that GGDL’s goal is to learn from their partners and then develop opportunities to have companies that are 100 per cent owned by George Gordon First Nation.
“Instead of partnering with these guys, they will either work themselves out of a job or they’ll come and work for a company that is 100 per cent owned by George Gordon First Nation,” said Ross.
George Gordon Development (GGDL) hosted their fourth annual partnership forum for the first time in Regina on Thursday. Photo by Danielle Dufour