Candace Dennis

Background

About Candace Dennis

For the last 25+ years, I have collaborated with the Indigenous community throughout BC, supporting them in their quest for financial independence while honouring the Indigenous culture working towards solutions that provide collective benefits for their people. I am a big picture thinker and enjoy planning and executing large-scale projects, building lasting relationships across diverse stakeholders - government, multinational, private, public and local organizations. My strength is my ability to builds consensus across partners positioning Indigenous communities towards the future, building sustainable new financial and operational entities. Currently, I am the CEO of Haida Enterprises Corp (HaiCo). I have implemented an economic development plan that addresses both the current financial needs of the community and focuses on improving life for the collective benefit of future generations, building a sustainable, environmental and economically viable community. It has been inspiring and rewarding to see how HaiCo has flourished while moving toward long-term sustainability. Some of our projects include building a cultural tourism lodge, biomass and solar energy projects, creating an environmental forest management project and developing training programs to enhance the local Haida employment opportunities. Before my work with HaiCo, I worked for 25+ years with 80+ Indigenous Communities within BC and the Yukon, providing business and financial advice through my senior roles with BMO and RBC. Through this work, I provided support and guidance on multilayered complex partnerships and agreements. To support my experience, I have an MBA (MBA (Indigenous Business & Leadership Program from SFU. I believe in giving back to the community and have been on several community boards, including North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Focus Foundation of BC, Sta’illes Economic Corporation and Director Haida Enterprise Corporation Board.