On September 30th, Canadians recognize National Truth and Reconciliation Day, an opportunity to honour children, families and communities impacted by residential schools, to listen, and to reiterate our commitment to Indigenous communities across our global operations.
As part of Kinross’ activities, we hosted a global webinar featuring a variety of speakers including Toronto-based employee and member of the Metis-Anishinaabe First Nation Lisa Steele-Robertson, Manager, Risk & Insurance, who began by sharing a land acknowledgement. We also listened to a guest speaker from the Seine River First Nation in Northern Ontario who spoke about her personal experiences, shared her perspective about Indigenous history and talked about how to be an ally to help create safe and inclusive spaces to discuss these topics.
Anna Atchison, Director, External Affairs, Alaska, spoke about our partnership with the Village of Tetlin and the importance of listening to build a lasting, positive relationship. Kinross’ Manh Choh project is located on leased land in Tetlin, and the project will continue to invest and hire locally and support community programs in the area.
“We are very closely tied with the Tetlin community and have been since long before acquisition,” said Anna. “We encourage one-on-one decision making with the Tetlin Village council in an effort to work with local governing bodies to make decisions together and to be partners in information sharing. It is a very special relationship.”
The event concluded with a video montage highlighting our work with Indigenous communities across our global operations, including the Colla in Chile, the Village of Tetlin in Alaska, the Western Shoshone in Nevada, and the Wabauskang and Lac Seul First Nations in North-Western, Ontario.
