This is Kim Sigurdson

If I had a nickel for every time somebody asked me who Kim Sigurdson is, and if he’s really First Nations, I’d probably have enough change in my pocket to finance a decaf latte.

Everybody knows, of course, that Sigurdson is president of Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp., but where’d he come from? I was chatting to a friend of mine on Friday about the whole ACC controversy when he said, “Sigurdson doesn’t sound aboriginal.”

He’s Metis, I said. “Doesn’t sound Metis, either,” I said.

I don’t know what a Metis name is supposed to sound like, but Sigurdson is Metis, and he says that’s why he focuses on employing First Nations workers.

Prior to forming ACC, he worked for a family owned construction company serving western Canada, then owned and operated a small general contracting company working in northern communities and Winnipeg.

For the past 25 years he worked in sales and marketing in numerous business ventures in the fish and seafood, and meat and poultry, industry.

As a Metis, he says he dedicates a lot of his time advocating aboriginal issues such as environment and economic development. He’s also a freelance writer for the Winnipeg Free Press.