The BC Achievement Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2022 Indigenous Business Award (IBA). Presented annually, the IBA recognizes the contributions of extraordinary Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs across BC, while helping to elevate connections between the province’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous economies.
This year’s award theme is “Thuyshaynum: preparing the path, directing the feet,” which addresses the tireless work being done to correct perceptions of Indigenous history and build respectful, meaningful relationships.
A total of eight Indigenous businesses, entrepreneurs, partnership entities and community-owned enterprises have been selected by a jury panel that includes Jessie Ramsay, Métis, a partner with Baker Newby Law; Jeff Ward, Ojibwe and Métis, founder and CEO of Animikii; and Leah George-Wilson, past Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation who practices Indigenous law with Miller Titerle + Company.
“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 foundation chair, Anne Giardini. “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.”
The Indigenous Business winners are:
- Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Dustin & Ashley Kucher – Dark Arc Welding Inc., Dawson Creek
- Business of the Year – one-to-two person enterprise: dk Architecture, North Vancouver
- Business of the Year – three-to-ten person enterprise: Culture Shock Interactive Gallery, Alert Bay
- Business of the Year – 11+ person enterprise: Warrior Plumbing, North Vancouver
- Community-owned Business of the Year – one entity: M’i nuw’ilum Marina Inc., Sooke
- Community-owned Business of the Year – two or more entities: Sasuchan Development Corporation, Takla Lake
- Business Partnership of the Year: Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd., Williams Lake
- Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement: Chief David Jimmie, Chilliwack.
The awardees will be celebrated at the IBA Gala on November 29 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
