Our sustainability path
Measures and standards: key indicators
2022-23 highlights
Looking ahead
President’s message
About SaskEnergy
Our sustainability framework
Pillar one: Environment
Pillar two: Prosperity
Pillar three: People
Indigenous engagement SaskEnergy is committed to building meaningful, long-term relationships with Indigenous groups and communities. Positive relationships, based on mutual respect and focused on achieving common goals, will create constructive outcomes for Indigenous communities and SaskEnergy. We currently serve 57 First Nations across three Treaty territories. Committed to enhancing Indigenous engagement and collaboration SaskEnergy was an original signatory to the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce’s Indigenous Engagement Charter in 2020, demonstrating the role we play in reconciliation and our commitment to enhancing engagement and collaboration with Indigenous peoples, businesses and communities. As part of our dedication to the Charter, we developed a new Indigenous policy in 2022-23 to formally commit our company to continuing to develop relationships with, and opportunities for, Indigenous people and communities in Saskatchewan. The policy highlights strategic focus areas to improve Indigenous engagement, such as human resources, corporate relations, environment and community investment. Specific initiatives, many of which have been occurring for years, are also included in the policy, such as Indigenous ceremonies related to our gas line construction projects, Indigenous cultural awareness training for employees, and Strategic Alliance Agreements. In 2022-23, SaskEnergy began work on an Indigenous engagement roadmap, which will be completed in 2023-24. The roadmap will provide a strategy and action plan for our Indigenous engagement path, in alignment with the strategic focus areas in our Indigenous policy, over the next three to five years. Project engagement We believe in starting conversations early when our plans may impact Indigenous communities and people. During our gas line projects, we often work with Indigenous Monitors and Elders to oversee and incorporate traditional land use, historical knowledge and sacred sites into our construction and reclamation activities. They also assist with citizen engagement, damage prevention and addressing any valuable cultural, environmental or heritage findings during construction. In addition, SaskEnergy works closely with archaeologists when dealing with heritage sites or artifacts, such as those with Indigenous origin, so they are taken care of and respected.
CEREMONY BRINGS RESPECT, POSITIVITY TO PROJECTS On May 31, 2022, in a field just west of Belle Plaine, a First Nations Elder led SaskEnergy’s first-ever pipe ceremony to bless the start of a construction project — both for safety throughout the project and an understanding of the land and what it does for us. With work beginning on our Moose Jaw Supply Project a week later, it was important to acknowledge that the route of our gas line goes through lands traditionally used by First Nations. About 30 people attended the pipe ceremony, including representatives from SaskEnergy, contractors and consultants, and members of local First Nations and Métis Nation-Saskatchewan. Three additional pipe ceremonies were held during the duration of the project, which was completed in early 2023. “The pipe leads us in the right direction. That’s what a pipe ceremony’s all about,” says Elder Calvin Pelletier of Muskowekwan First Nation, who performed the ceremonies. “It gives us strength and it gives us safety, like this project that’s going to be happening, so that everything will go right for everybody, that there’ll be no fallbacks.” “We’ve had a longstanding relationship for engagement with Indigenous communities and understand that this is important, and it’s important to them — it’s a matter of respect,” says SaskEnergy President & CEO Mark Guillet. “We want to make sure we’re doing things the right way.”
2022-23 Sustainability Report
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