The BC Achievement Foundation announced the recipients of the 2022 Indigenous Business Award that included a Williams Lake forest management company.
Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd was given the Business Partnership of the year.
Director Percy Guichon said they were very honored and excited to be given this recognition.
He noted Cariboo Chilcotin Rehabilitation is working on several projects with Natural Resource Canada.
“We’re working with the ‘2 Billion Trees” program, replanting the areas that were impacted by the 2017 devastating wildfires. We’ve already planted about 2 million trees under that program and we have a multi-year tenure agreement so we’ll be planting more trees in these areas.”
Guichon explained what winning the Business Partnership of the Year Award will mean to Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation moving forward.
“We’ve been operating for about 5 years so it’s really going to open I believe a lot more doors and to continue the great work that CCR is carrying out in the West Chilcotin.”
Guichon said CCR is harvesting stands in the West Chilcotin that were heavily impacted by the mountain pine beetle trying to utilize all the fiber within them and bringing them to market.
“Over the last 5 years we’ve brought in additional 450-thousand cubic meters of fiber that had been recovered and this fiber would normally just be burned in slash piles. Recovering that fiber is important in reducing wildfire risk and greenhouse gas emission.”
By recognizing outstanding people and businesses, the Indigenous Business Award gives voice to Indigenous entrepreneurship while modeling success for others to follow.
Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd is a joint venture company owned by the Tsideldel First Nation and the Tl’etinqox Government.