Senior Indigenous Rights and Consultation Lead

Are you someone with strong leadership and administrative skills? Do you enjoy building relationships and working collaboratively in a team environment with both internal and external stakeholders? Are you a trusted partner and a problem solver? As someone with excellent communication skills and business acumen, you will thrive in our fast-paced and agile environment.

Your Opportunity

We are looking for a Senior Indigenous Rights and Consultation Lead to join our team of multi-disciplinary professionals in the Downtown Toronto, North York, Kitchener or London offices. The successful candidate will support our planning, environmental science, and engineering technical groups across Dillon to: provide guidance on the Duty to Consult and associated engagement processes and best practices, including approaches to meaningful engagement; support relationship building with Indigenous communities through project consultation and engagement; integrate Indigenous Knowledge into assessment and planning processes; and undertake socio-cultural and Aboriginal and Treaty rights impact assessment processes in accordance with best practices and emerging approaches. Our teams work with a range of public, private, and Indigenous clients on a variety of exciting projects across the country, including infrastructure, environmental assessment, and planning projects.  

The ideal candidate is skilled in engaging and building relationships with Indigenous Peoples; versed in Indigenous Rights and interests, worldviews, values, and perspectives and approaches to meaningfully integrate them into planning and impact assessment processes; a thoughtful problem solver who enjoys working on complex projects; and a team player who enjoys tackling new challenges. 

What your day will look like

Technical Execution and Project Management

• Lead and support baseline programs and effects assessments with respect to Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and cultural impact assessments.
• Support, guide and develop resources to support understanding of the Duty to Consult and impacts on Aboriginal and Treaty rights and interests.
• Provide advice on current best practices and legal rulings related to the Duty to Consult and Accommodation.
• Provide technical expertise and advisory support to project teams and clients related to Indigenous Knowledge/Indigenous Land and Resource Use (IK/ILRU), rights and interests, cultural protocols/considerations, and other related matters (e.g., UNDRIP, FPIC).
• Conduct and contribute to detailed research, including jurisdictional and legislative framework reviews.
• Support socio-economic data collection and assessments (qualitative and quantitative).
• Contribute to territorial planning projects with the objective of asserting rights, title and jurisdiction.
• Contribute to environmental assessment projects, and other planning or policy projects including baseline and background research, report writing, socio-economic data collection and analysis, IK/ILRU studies, and fieldwork (as required).
• Communicate with clients, community leaders and members, staff and others regularly in a clear and professional manner, both orally and in writing.
• Prepare and provide review of high-quality reports and deliverables in line with best practices and appropriate cultural protocols.
• Support Indigenous community consultation and engagement programs and activities.
• Lead and support meetings and facilitate engagement sessions with clients, community leaders and members, and regulators.
• Manage and coordinate projects and project-related programs.
• Provide mentorship to and manage more junior staff including delegating project-related tasks to team members with an appropriate level of direction, guidance, review and feedback.
• Collaborate with and support technical and professional staff from across the company and sub consultants to complete project assignments.
• Travel for project work across Canada as required.
• Other duties as assigned.

Business Development

• Contribute to ongoing business development activities including development and enhancement of relationships with new and existing clients.
• Lead and support marketing initiatives, including profile building exercises.
• Lead and support proposals and work plans.
• Collaborate with staff across Canada for the purposes of project delivery, client relationship development, and the identification of opportunities and associated strategies.
• Contribute to Dillon’s corporate profile through active participation in professional associations and committees and representing the team at conferences and workshops.

Learning and Development

• Participate in corporate, office, and technical group meetings and activities.
• Contribute to the career growth and development of less tenured team members through leadership, technical direction, mentorship, coaching and training recommendations.
• Work with the larger Dillon team to identify and apply emerging best practices and new approaches to project activities, as well as legislative changes that may impact our work.
• A commitment to self-development and ongoing learning and professional development.

• A degree in social sciences, geography, resource management, Indigenous studies, anthropology, archaeology, planning, or a related field, preferably at the Master’s level.
• A minimum of 10 years of direct relevant experience, preferably in the consulting industry.
• In-depth understanding of the Duty to Consult and Accommodate.
• Knowledge of the history and present-day context of Indigenous Peoples, governments, and organizations in Canada.
• Knowledge of how to identify potentially impacted and interested Indigenous Communities for projects in Canada and understanding of how to assess potential impacts to Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and interests in Canada.
• Knowledge of relevant planning and legislative frameworks (Indigenous, municipal, provincial, federal) and planning principles and techniques.
• Understanding of culturally-appropriate approaches to planning and engagement.
• Strong writing skills are essential to this role – must be proficient in report and plan writing and able to prepare high-quality deliverables with attention to detail.
• Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to think critically and strategically, and be adaptive and responsive in the face of emerging challenges and opportunities.
• Acts with professionalism and personal accountability for attention to detail, time management, organization skills, quality control, and troubleshooting of project work to achieve quality, schedule, and budgetary expectations
• Business acumen and understanding of the consulting environment - ability to work in a fast-paced consulting environment with multiple project demands and timelines.
• A desire for continuous learning, professional development, and tackling new challenges.
• Versatile and adaptable with ability to work in a self-directed, multidisciplinary team setting.
• Willingness to travel, as needed.
• Able to work across multiple time zones, as needed.
• Valid driver’s license.

• Experience in leading and conducting Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and cultural impact assessments in federal, provincial or territorial regulatory frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience providing leadership, mentorship to and managing more junior staff.
• Demonstrated success in project management including working in a team setting and meeting quality, schedule, and budgetary expectations.
• Experience in preparing and delivering consultation programs for a range of stakeholders and Indigenous communities, including developing communication materials and program documentation is considered an asset.
• Experience facilitating meetings and workshops.
• Familiarity with IK/ILRU and related studies.

Why choose Dillon

Dillon is powered by people who are technically proficient, passionate about socially important projects, and motivated to deliver superior, tangible results. We strive to remain at the forefront of technology and innovation, and are empowered to continually grow and develop. 

We live our core values:

• Reliability: words result in actions that build trust;
• Achievement: do the work to hit the target;
• Continuous development: always learning; always adapting; always growing;
• Creativity: discover new possibilities;
• Courage: do the things that matter, especially when it’s hard;
• Inclusiveness: enabling belonging to draw strength from our differences.

In addition, we offer:

• Employee share purchase plan
• Dillon is 100% employee owned and share ownership is open to all full-time regular employees
• A competitive compensation package
• Comprehensive health benefits
• Generous retirement savings plan
• Student loan repayment assistance with matching employer contributions
• Flexible work hours 
• Dillon values its staff and the contributions that are made each day and understands that work arrangements can differ based on personal needs and business needs.  We are taking a trust-based approach to offer a variety of flexible work options to help balance the competing demands of work and personal life.
• Learning and Development opportunities
• As a knowledge-based business, the organic growth of our knowledge and skills occur through our work performance and roles. The creation and sharing of knowledge allows us to take local knowledge to scale, capture lessons learned through experience, and continuously improve service delivery. The development of self and others is an evident and measured core behaviour within our organization
• We use a composite approach to development including coaching to build the how, mentoring to share lessons, advising to round out perspectives, and co-creation of knowledge through internal learning opportunities
• Focus on Innovation
• The ability to anticipate, examine, and adopt new and innovative solutions is a crucial driver for the continual and progressive advancement of our business performance. In our culture, people are empowered to reflect and question current practices and seek forward looking solutions to today’s problems and tomorrow’s opportunities
• Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)
• A variety of EFAP tools and online resources to support well-being are available to all employees
• Wellness Subsidy
• Our employees can take advantage of wellness subsidy that can be put towards expenses for a variety of health and/or wellness related activities such as gym membership, purchase of home fitness equipment, yoga classes  and dance classes

About Dillon

Dillon is a proudly Canadian, employee-owned, professional consulting firm specializing in planning, engineering, environmental science, and management. We partner with clients to provide committed, collaborative, and inventive solutions to complex, multi-faceted projects. With over 20 offices and more than 1000 employees across Canada, Dillon offers a wide range of services related to building and improving facilities and infrastructure, protecting the environment, and developing communities.

Now operating for over 75 years, we continue to strive for excellence in everything we do. Dillon has been listed as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the past 18 years and has the distinction of having achieved Platinum Club member status in this program.

Health & Safety at Dillon

Prospective employees are expected to fully align with Dillon's core commitment to Health & Safety. This includes active, ongoing engagement with our Health & Safety processes and platform, and the active, ongoing identification and reporting of health and safety hazards.

Employment Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Dillon

Dillon is committed to the principles of employment equity, inclusiveness, and diversity within our organization. We strive to achieve a workplace where opportunities are based on skills and abilities and that respects and values differences.

Inclusion is more than a word to us, it is the way we choose to run our business. We encourage you to contact us if you require accommodation during the interview process. We would love to hear from you!