"Backwoods has developed a great relationship with Kinder Morgan. They’ve been a great partner for us — from Ian Anderson on down to the site supervisors — they’ve been extraordinary partners to Backwoods and Alexis."
Paul is chairman of Backwoods Energy Services, a First Nations-owned construction company that does ground inspections and repairs for the Trans Mountain Pipeline. The company got its start doing reforestation projects in British Columbia in the 1980s. Today, based in Alberta, it focuses on providing oil and gas construction services.
Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation acquired majority ownership of Backwoods in December 2014. How did that come about?
Bill Holdyk and his wife Liz founded the company in 1986. It was focused on tree planting in northwestern BC. There was a real downturn in that business toward the end of that decade. Bill had the foresight to transition eastwards into Alberta, eventually expanding his scope of services into traditional oil and gas construction work.
Through that transition, Backwoods began an informal relationship with Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Meanwhile, I was on a parallel path. I have an oil and gas safety background — and I knew the Alexis Chief at that time.
In December 2014, Alexis acquired a majority interest in Backwoods. Alexis controls the Board and has financial and strategic oversight. There is a path to 100 per cent ownership — which I think is extraordinarily important for the community and its path toward independence and self-sustainability.
I’ve come along as the executive chairman to help professionalize the business, and to ensure the goals of both parties are front and centre through that transition period.
How does Backwoods help support First Nations workers?
Based on man-hours, about 65 per cent of our workforce is First Nations.
From a community perspective, it’s not only important for us to build employment, it’s also as important to build future leaders. We have programs to move our frontline workers through to jobs as equipment operators and into management, and even sub-contractor roles, so that they can start their own businesses and do work outside of Backwoods.
We believe that it’s not only important, and a just cause for the company, it’s also the best source of success stories that go back to the community and build momentum. We’re pretty excited about the team and the prospects for what we’ve done.
What sort of work do you do for Trans Mountain?
We’ve done a good chunk of pipeline integrity work for the company. As part of its comprehensive pipeline management program, Kinder Morgan will use internal inspection tools (known as ‘pigs’) to travel inside the pipeline to collect data and evaluate the condition of the pipeline.
Once Kinder Morgan identifies an area that requires visual inspection, we expose that area to surface. We then work with the inspectors to mitigate any damage or reclamation work that needs to be done to the pipe, whether that’s coating the pipe, welding or other repairs. Next, we replace the pipeline in the ground and return the area to the condition we found it in or better. That’s the majority of work we’re doing right now.
It’s specialized work, not just general labour. We need operators for heavy equipment operations. We need NACE-certified pipe coaters. Doing this integrity work requires specific expertise, which is also beneficial to the knowledge and the aspirations of the community.
Anything else?
We’re also on a new job with the existing Trans Mountain pipeline in what’s called natural hazard mitigation in areas where the pipeline crosses water bodies. In certain areas, where erosion has perhaps caused the pipe to be exposed at surface or the pipe has shifted due to natural hazards or erosion, we’re going in there and either rerouting that section of pipe to make it safer or working on the erosion issues to protect the integrity of that pipe.
How long have you been working with Trans Mountain?
We’ve been doing integrity work since 2013, so it’s relatively new for us. It’s on the maintenance side of the industry involving things that need to be done irrespective of the price of oil.
We have developed expertise. We have demonstrated to Kinder Morgan and others that we can do this work safely and professionally, which is obviously most important to them.
Do you intend to pursue work on the proposed expansion Project?
We are going to be as aggressive as we can. Backwoods has developed a great relationship with Kinder Morgan. They’ve been a great partner for us — from Ian Anderson on down to the site supervisors — they’ve been extraordinary partners to Backwoods and Alexis. Conversely, I think we’ve also done good work for Kinder Morgan.