The Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase is adding a new, Indigenous-led stream to its 2025 program: The Gathering, Reconciliation in Action, a full-day agenda focused on practical tools, cultural insights, and shared learning on reconciliation in action, hosted at the Vancouver Convention Centre West on November 13, 2025.
The format will be facilitated entirely by Indigenous speakers, moderators, panellists, and keynotes, giving attendees a one-of-a-kind opportunity to listen, learn, and celebrate partnerships shaping Canada’s future. The day will conclude with the IPSS Gala Dinner & Awards Night, featuring the Shared Prosperity Awards. Nominations for the awards are open until November 3, 2025.
IPSS 2025 will also host an executive leadership summit for 180 delegates, alongside Indigenous-led partnership rooms designed to enable direct engagement between communities and prospective partners. A sponsorship call invites companies and institutions to align with a Canada-wide movement built on respect, collaboration, and shared prosperity through economic reconciliation. All those interested can register here to be part of this special, once-a-year event.
Speakers and advisory council
The Gathering will feature Crystal Smith, former elected Chief Councillor of the Haisla Nation, as keynote speaker, Elaine Alec, founder of Naqsmist Storytellers, as a guest speaker, and Angela D’Amato van den Hout, CEO of Nan wúújǫ anawúúdle Restoration Society, as a guest panellist.
The IPSS Advisory Council welcomes a slate of leaders who bridge Indigenous governance, industry, and community development: Deanna Lewis of the Squamish Nation, Dallas Smith of the Tlowitsis Nation and President and Chair of the Nanwakolas Council Society, Crystal Smith of the Haisla Nation, Isaiah Robinson, Deputy Chief Councillor of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation, Angela Grier, M.Ed., Justin Napoleon, former Chief of Saulteau First Nation, and Lana Eagle, an Indigenous relations strategist from Whitecap Dakota First Nation.
A featured council bio in the event materials highlights Lana Eagle’s work advising companies on engagement with Indigenous communities through a reconciliation framework. She has served as a Director of AME BC, as a Director and Chair of the Central City Foundation, and as Chair of the Board of Geoscience BC. She also co-chairs the Indigenous Affairs Committee of PDAC and is an elected member of the PDAC board, is an Independent Director at Kodiak Copper, and is a sought-out speaker on Indigenous engagement and reconciliation. Eagle received PDAC’s Skookum Jim Award in 2018, as well as recognition among 100 Inspirational Global Women in Mining.
Community outcomes and partnership models
Advisory council member Isaiah Robinson, Deputy Chief Councillor of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation, is also CEO of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Development Corporation. He has defended the Nation’s salmon-farming partnership in Klemtu as a concrete example of long-term, community-led development.
“We now have a 99 percent employment rate and 51 percent of our economy is represented by salmon farming, which is worth about three million dollars a year,” Robinson told Country Guide, noting the Nation’s environmental stewardship and expanding science program around aquaculture.
Council member Dallas Smith of the Na̲nwak̲olas First Nation, has explained the dual role many Nations play as both regulators and developers.
“First Nations are bringing a balanced approach to this equation because not only are we developing salmon farm opportunities, we’re protecting watersheds for wild salmon. First Nations are both regulators and developers of this industry, and we think that we can take this to the next step,” said Smith.
Council member Justin Napoleon has extensive experience negotiating to help First Nations secure equity in major energy infrastructure. Earlier this year, the Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance announced a seven hundred fifteen million dollar agreement giving three dozen First Nations a 12.5 percent stake in Enbridge’s B.C. pipeline system.
Napoleon, a former Saulteau First Nation Chief and power engineer, served on the transaction committee, joined the Stonlasec8 board, and supported a four hundred million dollar federal loan guarantee application through the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program. He also helped structure First Nations equity options on the Coastal GasLink pipeline so Nations could exercise ownership once the asset was in service.
Guest speaker Elaine Alec
Elaine Alec (teɬkənitkʷ) is a syilx and secwepemc author, entrepreneur, and advocate for healing, self-determination, and reconnection. As founder of Naqsmist Storytellers Inc. and creator of the Cultivating Safe Spaces framework, she works with leaders and organizations to cultivate emotional safety, relational accountability, and systems that last, helping people move from fear to trust and from urgency to responsibility. Her new book, Coming of Age: Overcoming Trauma to Achieve Self-Determination, blends memoir, Indigenous wisdom, and practical tools for emotional healing and reconnection.
How to take part
We encourage prospective attendees, partners, and sponsors to register for IPSS 2025 and The Gathering, and to submit Shared Prosperity Awards nominations before November 3.
With Indigenous leadership at the forefront, the program is positioned to advance practical reconciliation by pairing real projects with community priorities, and by building long-term partnerships that endure beyond a single event.
Click here to register for IPSS 2025.
