At CPABC, we are committed to making the accounting profession more attractive and accessible to Indigenous individuals. In support of this goal, and in keeping with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we continue to work respectfully with Indigenous partners and communities.
CORE PRINCIPLES
The following principles guide CPABC’s Indigenous Engagement Strategy:
- Our work is inclusive of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples;
- We focus on building respectful and trusting relationships;
- We seek Indigenous participation and inclusion in developing plans;
- We prioritize collaboration and partnerships; and
- We endeavour to learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Here’s a look at some collaborative activities over the past year:
Activities with and for our members
Indigenous Members Forum
CPABC’s Indigenous Members Forum provides Indigenous members with a virtual meeting space that’s occasionally open to non-Indigenous CPA allies as well. Some meetings focus on connection building, some on learning, and others on providing input to CPABC.
The forum provided us with tremendous input over the past year, particularly as we set about drafting CPABC’s Indigenous People’s Acknowledgment, which was added to the CPABC website in October 2025. Members of the forum also offered feedback on what impact means as we—as CPAs—look to measure outcomes. They concurred that our goal to increase the number of Indigenous students becoming CPAs is a long-term one, and that in that regard, we are “playing the long game.” In the meantime, we are continuing to make connections with Indigenous youth and communities.
New free PD course
British Columbia has far fewer treaties and significantly more diverse Indigenous populations than elsewhere in Canada, and most Canadian professional development courses are simply too general to convey.
Recognizing this, the Chartered Professional Accountants Education Foundation of British Columbia provided funding to develop a new PD course for BC CPAs that specifically focuses on the uniqueness of the Indigenous landscape here in BC.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the Indigenous authors who developed the course content and generously shared their knowledge and perspectives. We also recognize the Indigenous CPABC members who served on the Advisory Committee and provided valuable input throughout the course’s development.
The course will be offered for free this fall. Stay tuned!
Initiatives with our partners
CPABC and the First Nations Financial Management Board (FMB) have worked together on a variety of initiatives over the years to attract more Indigenous youth to the profession and to support the role of CPAs in advancing economic reconciliation.
This past year, the FMB undertook the First Nations Financial Statement and Audit Research Project to identify the issues affecting a growing trend of missing and delayed First Nations annual financial statements. CPABC and other provincial/territorial CPA bodies supported this work by reviewing and providing input to the survey questions and by identifying and reaching out to CPAs who work with First Nations to seek their participation in the research.
Building on the work done over the past year, the FMB will lead the next phase of the project to advance targeted solutions. This includes identifying policy and system-level barriers and developing proposals to reduce reporting burdens for First Nations. One proposal that has already been developed and created is the Indigenous Technical Advisory Group, a national association of finance and accounting professionals dedicated to supporting First Nations in Canada with the adoption and implementation of new accounting, financial reporting, and sustainability standards.
In addition, the FMB will continue to engage with national and regional partners to advocate for enhanced training, recruitment, and retention of accounting professionals serving First Nations.
“We’ll provide ongoing updates to our partners as this work progresses,” says FMB CEO Scott Munro, FCPA. “This important project demonstrates the value of collaboration involving the CPA bodies and the FMB—part of our shared journey toward economic reconciliation.”
CPABC’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT
“As the provincial regulator of the CPA profession, we wish to acknowledge and thank the local Indigenous peoples for their stewardship and care of the lands across British Columbia.
“We respectfully recognize the diversity of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples living in British Columbia, and honour their heritage, stories, cultures, and contributions—past, present, and future. We reaffirm our commitment to fostering respectful relationships and advancing the steps we have taken toward reconciliation.
“CPABC thanks the Indigenous Member Forum for their insights into developing this acknowledgement.”
Engagements with Indigenous youth and communities
From our research and our discussions with Indigenous members, we understand that there’s an ongoing need for financial literacy for Indigenous peoples. Accordingly, over the past year, we’ve offered more than 50 financial literacy presentations to Indigenous audiences.
CPABC currently has four financial literacy sessions tailored specifically for Indigenous audiences and a total of 14 sessions of interest to them. We were honoured to present two of these sessions—“Money Basics for Indigenous Youth (Plus a Fun Game of Bingo!)” and “Budgeting for Independence”—at this year’s Gathering Our Voices event in March. It was a pleasure to be invited to participate in this Indigenous-focused youth conference once again, and we are grateful to Indigenous CPA members Vickie Whitehead, CPA, and Sheryle Evans, CPA, CIA, B.Sc., for serving as our facilitators. Combined, their sessions reached a total of 250 Indigenous young people.
This past year, CPABC also partnered with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres to deliver two customized sessions—“Introduction to Financial Stewardship” and “Understanding Financial Statements”—to the association’s staff.
CPABC also participated in post-secondary and employer events, Indigenous career fairs, and community gatherings such as conferences and pow-wows—activities that enabled us to connect directly with Indigenous youth and students, their family members, and community members and leaders. This outreach gave us many opportunities to communicate the value of pursuing financial education and careers in business and finance.
Looking back over the past year’s events, Jesse Bruised Head, CPABC’s Indigenous engagement program manager, says: “The most rewarding conversations for me have often happened at the community events we have been invited to attend. I’ve had an opportunity to speak with both youth and community members, and I’ve had several prospective and current students share that they hadn’t considered—or even heard of—the CPA designation, and were now re-evaluating their educational and career goals.
“In one instance,” he adds, “a grandmother told me she was intrigued by the career prospects for a CPA professional, and impressed with our Financial Literacy Program, as she wanted her grandchildren to be able to access the knowledge and career opportunities that many older generations did not have.”
NUMBERS AS OF DECEMBER 2025
- 329 members—just over 0.8% of CPABC’s total membership—have self-identified as Indigenous (by comparison, the percentage among BC residents is 5.9%.); 288 of these members live in BC.
- 69 BC students in the CPA Professional Education Program have self-identified as Indigenous; they represent 1.3% of BC’s total student population registered in CPAWSB.
New horizons, new faces
Danielle Levine led our Indigenous Engagement Strategy for seven years before retiring in January 2026. Under her leadership, CPABC was able to build trust and forge the kind of relationships that have shaped our progress thus far.
As we bid farewell to Danielle, we also look forward to introducing her successor in a future issue of CPABC in Focus. Stay tuned!
We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of Danielle Levine, who led CPABC’s Indigenous Engagement Strategy for seven years before her recent retirement. Danielle’s leadership and insights have been key to this initiative’s progress. We thank Danielle for her efforts and wish her all the best in the future.
How to get involved
For up-to-date information on CPABC’s Indigenous events and initiatives, visit our website.
And if you’d like to volunteer in support of CPABC’s Indigenous Engagement Strategy, we would be very pleased to hear from you. You can contact us for more details.
Lori Mathison, FCPA, LLB, is the president and CEO of CPABC.
This article was originally published in the May/June 2026 issue of CPABC in Focus.
