Image Credit: Back to the Fire.
Back to the Fire is a six-episode travel documentary series profiling inspiring Indigenous leaders from Canada and around the world, who share deeply personal stories about the traditional teachings and values that propelled them through adversity and onto success.
“Our show travels to magical locations, interviews prominent Indigenous leaders and records their unique stories and earliest teachings to help inform the leaders of tomorrow,” says Chief Gibby Jacob, Hereditary Chief of the Squamish Nation and Back to the Fire Executive Producer.
In 2023, Teck contributed $150,000 towards the development of the pilot episode of the series.
“This is an important project in support of Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples,” said Jonathan Price, Chief Executive Officer, Teck. “This series will be a powerful tool for teaching future generations about Indigenous history and storytelling in Canada, and Teck is pleased to support it.”
In 2024, as the pilot episode entered post-production, Back to the Fire and Teck jointly hosted an employee livestream event in honour of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. Employees were invited to a discussion between Jonathan Price and Chief Gibby Jacob followed by a screening of the first episode of Back to the Fire. Attended by more than 600 employees across Teck, this internal event was the first of its kind where our CEO and an Indigenous leader engaged in a conversation. After watching the pilot episode, the approximately 100 employees who attended in person gave a standing ovation, demonstrating how moving and inspiring the documentary and the featured Indigenous voices were.
At Teck, we work to support Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Reconciliation involves acknowledging and healing from a history of colonization, where Indigenous rights and priorities were not respected, treaties were ignored, and traditional governance systems were forcibly dismantled. It is important to prioritize education to empower everyone at Teck to understand the importance of Reconciliation and consider how to integrate Indigenous thinking into our everyday work. The jointly-hosted event with the Back to the Fire team allowed Teck to continue learning directly from Indigenous voices about the ongoing impacts of colonization across Indigenous communities and the importance of Reconciliation.
Learn more about our approach to Relationships with Communities and Indigenous Peoples.
