About us

Indigenous Works (formerly, the Aboriginal Human Resource Council), announced its new brand name on November 21, 2016.

Today we are a national social enterprise that is ISO 9001 certified (quality management system). We were founded as a non-profit national organization in 1998 as a recommendation from the 1996 Report on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples with a mandate to improve the inclusion and engagement of Indigenous people in the Canadian economy.

Indigenous Works is governed by a Board of Directors with private sector, Indigenous economic development corporations and independent directors. We do not receive core government funding – our Indigenous non-profit business is supported by companies/organizations that access memberships, services and products to improve performance and partnership results. We leverage public and private sector funding to advance research and special projects to advance our common mandate.

For nearly 20 years, we have worked with companies and organizations to strengthen their performance and results in Indigenous employment, workplace engagement and inclusion.  Partnerships are key to developing the right relationships and generating better results. Indigenous Works is addressing relationship building and responding to the growing need for stronger partnership development between Indigenous-owned enterprises and corporate Canada. This is timely given calls by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Government of Canada to renew relationships with Indigenous Peoples for the betterment of Canadian society and our economy.

We have always been recognized nationally for our leadership in workplace inclusion and facilitating stronger Indigenous inclusion strategies in Canadian corporations. 

Our new name reflects our expanded vision by helping partnerships between Canadian companies and Indigenous organizations work better. To that end, we assess and benchmark the readiness of potential partners and work with them to shore up partnership capacity, workplace performance and cultural competency on each side. We reduce the risks that can lead to a breakdown in the relationship, the derailment of the partnership and lost economic opportunity.

Through our services and products, we help develop inclusive workplaces and high-functioning, authentic and long-term partnerships. Our Inclusion Continuum, is a seven-stage road map that helps organizations become an employer-of-choice. Our partnership and workplace inclusion tools help companies benchmark and implement partnership strategies, practices and behaviours. We have worked with hundreds of companies, including our group of Leadership Circle members, with proven partnership and workplace solutions.

Whether you are an Indigenous or non-Indigenous company or organization, we invite you to contact us to create a dialogue that will help you get started on your pathway.