Indigenous & Community Engagement

Connect Group has a personal commitment to ensuring the values of dignity and respect for all persons are upheld and contribute to building and maintaining meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with Indigenous Communities throughout the areas in which business is conducted and beyond.

We believe that the diverse backgrounds and personal characteristics of our employees, business associates, and the individuals and communities in which we work, bring varied perspectives and experiences that enrich the environment of our workplace across all our operations. Encouraging the diversity within our workplace and community is critical to CGI’s ongoing successes, and we are focused on growing Indigenous engagement and relations to maintain a meaningful dialog building sustainable partnerships.

Connect Group strives to be a leader of ethical business practices through transparent operations, committing to optimizing engagement on both individual and business basis. The following principles shape CGI’s commitment to Indigenous Peoples:

• Connect Group recognizes and supports the rights of all Indigenous peoples to maintain their distinct identities and continue their belief practices in the spiritual, social, and cultural realms, while acknowledging their equality within our society.
• Connect Group recognizes the rights of all Indigenous peoples to exercise their jurisdictional rights over their traditional lands, and the pursuit of sustainable economic successes for individuals and communities.
• Connect Group will lead by example in ensuring the education of employees, business partners, suppliers, and stake holders, in the support of Indigenous rights, history, and culture.
• Connect Group is committed to doing business in a way that supports both Indigenous Businesses, and Indigenous Employment.
• Connect Group is committed to community engagement, supporting communities through acts of service and other meaningful contributions, supporting education and social development initiatives to ensure the necessary opportunities are available to the next generations of Indigenous leaders.

Connect Group recognizes the importance of building for the future and through the following strategies will ensure our commitments and goals are reached:

• Strong Leadership Commitment and Engagement: CGI recognizes that every member of the team, from executive management to shop floor employees, must see and understand the importance of their role in company culture.
• Establishing a Sense of Belonging: for everyone to be the best, they must first feel a sense of belonging. Diversity must be embraced to create the inclusive culture required for belonging.
• Management leading diversity and Inclusion Efforts: Leaders must be appropriately equipped to make the story their own. They must be able to explain why they care, why it matters, and why it should matter to the rest of their teams.
• Expecting and Overcoming Challenges: Society is full of cultural norms, that dictate power structures and inequities, and these are often firmly embedded in the structure and operations of organizations. Creating a company culture and society where all individuals can contribute to their full potential requires a critical examination of systems and processes, followed by their reimagination to maximize contribution.

For Connect Group it is not enough to teach individuals what it means to be inclusive, meaningful change is required. This begins with behavior, inclusion requires individuals to identify and utilize key moments in which to build new habits or “micro-behaviors”, these become daily actions that can be practiced and measured. Through the actioning of these new habits, we are building an environment that supports honest conversations and healthy tension, thereby enabling meaningful change.

We recognize that building a diverse and inclusive organization is a continuing process that requires commitment, focused effort, and the attention of us all.