Q&A With Suncor’s Chief Sustainability Officer Arlene Strom - 2023 Report on Sustainability - Seite 2
Both you and Suncor have been very strong advocates for implementing the Truth and Reconciliation's Commission Calls to Action. Why is this so important?
I love that what I believe in personally is connected to the work that I do. The Journey of Reconciliation is critical to our future as a company and a country. Acknowledging what happened in the past is an important step in moving forward. I feel a tremendous personal obligation to be part of reconciliation and I'm also proud we've made these commitments as a company. I hope it enables us to walk side-by-side with Indigenous Peoples and be open to learning new ways of seeing and doing things. It's extremely important to Suncor because so many of our operations are located on or contiguous with traditional Indigenous lands. And we believe our business should also benefit the Indigenous communities that live near our operations. There are huge opportunities in working together with Indigenous Peoples. A good example is the Willow Lake Métis Nation, who purchased 205 acres of land in their traditional territory for their community. They were able to raise the capital for this purchase through their participation in the Astisiy Limited Partnership with Suncor and seven other Indigenous and Métis communities.
You recently joined the steering committee for the Pathways Alliance, the consortium of Canada's largest oil sands producers who are working together to address climate change. What do you hope to accomplish in that role?
Lesen Sie auch
It's a tremendous honour to be a part of that group. I give the people who came before me a ton of credit for getting us to where we are and it's a privilege to continue their work. One of the things that gets me up in the morning is that I can do meaningful work that helps us to contribute to the energy transition and reconciliation. The Pathways Alliance to net zero is squarely in the middle of both of those issues. We want to make significant progress on our foundational project - carbon capture and storage. There's a lot of work to do and we need to begin a regulatory process. We need to work with First Nations and Métis communities to understand their concerns and the opportunity. We also must get our commercial agreements in place among the six companies that make up Pathways. We need a framework in place with provincial and federal governments. By the end of 2023, I hope we are significantly closer to this foundational project becoming a reality. There's a lot of work ahead, but it's exciting.