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AIOC: A Bridge Builder Helping Unlock Indigenous Potential – AIOC

October 18, 2024

At Energy Disruptors United in Calgary, I sat down with Chana Martineau, CEO of Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC), to discuss economic reconciliation. Chana is uniquely qualified to help unlock economic opportunity for Indigenous communities and her background as a woman of First Nations heritage with 30 years of experience in banking and consulting has made her a bridge builder between private enterprise and Indigenous communities. Her cross-functional team of capital markets professionals, Indigenous relations specialists, and engagement professionals enables the AIOC to be a role model for strong governance and professional management. Chana has some advice for companies that want to build ties with Indigenous communities:

  • Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation is a breakthrough organization that’s a model for the rest of the country, demonstrating the power of mobilizing capital through Indigenous communities for opportunities. Can you tell us the story of AIOC?

In 2019, the Alberta government fulfilled a campaign promise to bring to life an organization that would facilitate investment and participation by Indigenous groups in commercially viable projects – groups who had previously been held back from participating in the economy due to restrictions in the Indian Act. AIOC was set up to remove the barriers – to provide that capital that would allow full participation in the economy, while creating a replicable model that could be accessed for future projects to come. We’re coming up on 5 years next month and are seeing so much come through the pipeline we can’t keep up sometimes. It’s an exciting time for us and demonstrates the critical need for this program.

Read More: https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/aioc-a-bridge-builder-helping-unlock-indigenous-potential/

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