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Partnership wins 2022 Indigenous Business Award for Cariboo partnership

Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. has been recognized with a 2022 Indigenous Business Award
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Tsideldel First Nation councillor and Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation (CCR) director Percy Guichon and Tsi Del Del Enterprises Ltd. forester Danny Strobbe are excited about CCR’s trial project using drones to seed forests devastated by wildfires. (Monica Lamb-Yorski file photo - Williams Lake Tribune)

A Williams Lake-based business Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. has been recognized with a 2022 Indigenous Business Award.

Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. has been awarded Business Partnership of the Year by the BC Achievement Foundation.

The business is a joint venture forestry company owned by the Tsideldel First Nation (Previously known as Redstone) and the Tl’etinqox (Previously known as Anaham) Government.

“Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation is so pleased to be awarded with this honour,” noted Percy Guichon, Director of CCR and member of the Tsideldel First Nation.

The partnership was formed in the spring of 2017, the joint venture was originally formed to address the 100,000 hectares of dead pine which were at the time still left in the Chilcotin region and to reduce wildfire risk and rehabilitate mountain pine beetle-damaged forests near Alexis Creek.

During the summer of 2017, large areas of forest in the region were decimated by wildfires and so the company had to pivot in order to address the standing burnt timber with minimal economic value.

The company has since used both traditional methods and innovation to bring about substantial sustainable changes to the landscape and the economy of the area.

The Indigenous Business Awards are meant to recognize Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs across B.C. and help increase connections between the province’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous economies.

“When we come together to celebrate Indigenous business achievement, we are also blazing a path for today’s youth and for the generations that will follow. The Indigenous Business Award program recognizes business achievement, honouring innovative ideas and new ways of making our economy more robust and more inclusive,” said Anne Giardini, OC, OBC, KC, Chair of the BC Achievement Foundation in a release.

“Every year, the enterprises recognized with an Indigenous Business Award highlight ways we all benefit from an ongoing reconciliation of the practices of the past with the economies of the future.”

By recognizing outstanding people and businesses, the IBA gives voice to Indigenous entrepreneurship while modelling success for others to follow.

The program has been going for 14 years and has recognized over 210 businesses.

This year’s award theme is “Thuyshaynum: preparing the path, directing the feet,” which acknowledges the work being done to correct perceptions of Indigenous history and build respectful, meaningful relationships.

This year, eight Indigenous businesses, entrepreneurs, partnerships and community-owned enterprises have been selected by a jury panel.

This year’s recipients will be recognized at a public formal gala ceremony held on Nov.29 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Tickets are $200 per person and can be purchased online at: https://www.bcachievement.com/2022-indigenous-business-gala-dinner-award-presentation/.

Read more: Woodland Jewellers in Williams Lake annual fundraising raffle



ruth.lloyd@wltribune.com

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Ruth Lloyd

About the Author: Ruth Lloyd

After moving back to Williams Lake, where I was born and graduated from school, I joined the amazing team at the Williams Lake Tribune in 2021.
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