The reason why NCC Investment group should receive this award is because we aim to be the leader in Arctic development solutions in real estate, construction, and investments that generate pride, economic returns, employment and partnerships for Nunavummiut. As an Inuit wholly owned, Nunavut-based company, NCC remains committed to employing as many Inuit and Nunavummiut as are available. However, in order to ensure there are enough skilled trades people on the NCC workforce to deliver on its promises to the Nunavut 3000 initiative plus its other commitments to building key infrastructure in Nunavut, NCC has launched a significant recruitment campaign and a training program that meets the needs of training people at home in their communities. The company has committed to building people and homes through a dedicated training program for Inuit that help them build skills so they can become skilled trades people. Before each building peoject starts in the community there is a 9 week in class training for 10 participants. Then those same 10 go through saftey training and finally a hands on project. This allows for 14 weeks of continuous training before they start ion the job training on the specific housing builds in their community. Currently our workforce is 200 employees on various projects across the north and we have over 50% of the workforce local to the territory and 42% of those 200 are Inuit. We also have numerous new Canadians also working for us in different roles administratively.

I've had the pleasure of partnering with Brad/A&H Steel on Inclusive Economy Initiatives over the last few years. Their commitment to spending the time and energy and money to explore ways to make apprenticeship more accessible to equity-seeking groups in Edmonton is unparalleled. A&H Steel is participating of the West Valley LRT project in Edmonton West. Brad collaborated with EndPovertyEdmonton and Action for Healthy Communities on an apprenticeship cohort initiative that providededucation, access to training to 50+ individuals via the initiative and offered apprenticeship registration and employment to 7 individuals during the course of the initiative. I've personally seen A&H Steel go above an beyond to support new hires and apprentices. They take interpersonal conflict on sites very seriously and thoroughly investigate all concerns. They provide and unusually high level of support for individuals who demonstrate a willingness to learn - offering to pay for additional external language training, trying new cohort strategies, and including new workers and apprentices in social activities outside of work. While Tracking isn't something that is done very well in Edmonton, because there are a lot of concerns about demographic data collection (in all sectors) that we are all working through, Brad is intentionally connecting with other construction leaders who are voluntarily participating in diversifying their workforce and implementing social procurement initiatives.

One needs not go any further than a visit to an active Eastern Construction site to appreciate the firm is committed to promoting diversity within the workplace, offering employment opportunities and advancement to the most qualified candidates without preconceived notions around ethnicity and orientation. Our diverse workforce, currently exceeding 40%, has typically been comprised of newcomers to Canada, youth who joined the firm through Social Employment and Skills Training Programs, high school co-op students, university co-op students, in addition to women in senior level positions on construction sites and head office. Through our ongoing work with Waterfront Toronto on the Quayside Project, Eastern is currently a participant in the Waterfront Toronto employment Initiative, a program we believe is connected to TCBN. Over the course of 20+ years, in our role as Construction Manager with Waterfront Toronto on numerous construction programs, we have been a participant in the WTEI and have provided employment opportunities to those young people typically under-represented in the construction industry. We support a diverse workforce by: 1. Implementing fair hiring practices 2. Recruiting and retaining qualified candidates from all equity groups 3. Maintaining a corporate culture that fosters excellence, innovation, employee satisfaction and engagement by respecting individual differences and encouraging a diversity of views. This policy applies to all employment practices and actions including advertising, recruitment, testing, screening, hiring, selection for training, upgrading, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay, or any other considerations related to employment, compensation and/or benefits." Over the course of a decade, while not formally documented, a review of our roster over the years reveals Eastern 's salaried workforce grew from 8% diversity in 2014 to 40% current-day.