Nestled within the boreal forest region of Alberta, Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. has been a cornerstone of local economic development since its establishment in 1990. The company focuses on the production of high-quality softwood and hardwood pulp, supplying customers throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. Deeply committed to sustainable forestry, Mercer also strongly emphasizes building meaningful, long-term relationships with Indigenous communities, recognizing that engagement is fundamental to responsible land stewardship in Canada.
What common stakeholder engagement challenges did Mercer face?
Over more than three decades of operation, Mercer's team engaged daily with a broad range of key stakeholders - Indigenous leaders, government officials, landowners, and community groups.
However, as engagement activities grew in scale and complexity, Mercer faced increasing difficulties keeping their information organized and accessible.
Their processes evolved from resource-intensive paper files and ad hoc folders to isolated digital solutions, but data remained fragmented across multiple systems and formats.
This fragmentation made it challenging for Mercer to maintain a comprehensive view of their communications, track interactions and commitments, and measure progress toward broader relational and regulatory goals.
Staff struggled to gather engagement reports, and the risk of missing or duplicating tasks increased.
Without a centralized system, it was hard to demonstrate accountability, especially as Mercer prepared to achieve PAIR (Partnership Accreditation in Indigenous Relations) certification - a benchmark requiring rigorous tracking and transparent documentation of all Indigenous engagement activities.
Josh Magnusson, former Indigenous Relations Coordinator at Mercer, explained that their goal was to find a platform capable of providing a historical record of engagement and supporting the needs of all departments.
Without this, they faced the ongoing risk of inconsistent communication, confusion over roles and responsibilities, and a lack of clarity around the status of critical stakeholder relationships.
How were Indigenous and stakeholder engagement challenges addressed?
Jambo and Mercer worked together to successfully onboard the entire Mercer team onto Jambo. Legacy systems were retired, and all rightsholder information, contacts, emails, documents, and commitments were imported into Jambo.
Jambo is now the centralized system for managing stakeholder and Indigenous engagement at Mercer. With Jambo, teams can track all interactions and commitments with Indigenous communities, promoting a more coordinated and accountable approach.
The implementation of Jambo has helped Mercer work towards meeting its regulatory requirements, including its PAIR certification.
By leveraging Jambo's capabilities, the organization is better equipped to manage engagement interactions, track progress, and meet our commitments, improving our ability to build trust with Indigenous communities.
This streamlined approach has significantly improved Mercer's Indigenous engagement processes and strengthened relationships with communities.
"What I really like about the Jambo is how user-friendly and simple to use it is," said Josh Magnusson, former Indigenous Relations Coordinator at Mercer Peace River.
What positive outcomes did Jambo SRM bring?
Mercer's collaboration with Jambo has yielded significant benefits in managing their Indigenous engagement. Some notable outcomes include:
- Efficient planning and delivery of communication and engagement efforts: Using Jambo to support implementing its annual community engagement project, Mercer has streamlined its communication efforts, ensuring that each interaction is logged, categorized, and assigned to the correct department.
- Improved data management and accountability: Mercer has maintained a continuous record of engagements with Indigenous communities, which is required for its PAIR certification.
- Increased adoption of engagement tools across the organization: Jambo has become integral to Mercer's daily workflow, with all departments now utilizing the platform. This success is poised to be replicated in other locations within Canada and worldwide.
Elevating Indigenous engagement and stakeholder consultation
These benefits demonstrate the positive impact that Jambo can have on forestry companies working to improve their Indigenous engagement.
It enables organizations like Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. to build and maintain stronger relationships and achieve their goals more effectively.
"This tool is fantastic." - Josh Magnusson, former Indigenous Relations Coordinator at Mercer Peace River.
