An early geological discovery of the oldest postglacial forest in the Toronto area helped steer Hans Matthews (BSc \u201983) toward Brock University\u2019s Earth Sciences program.<\/p>\n
Fast forward 38 years and his career in both the mining industry and Indigenous community relations has earned him the 2021 Distinguished Graduate Award in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science.<\/p>\n
Hans Matthews, a geologist and member of the Wahnapitae First Nation, found success in helping mining companies and Indigenous communities work together as President of the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association. These contributions also recently earned him the Skookum Jim Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.<\/p>\n
Before attending Brock Matthews gained experience in the industry working with a geologist from the Ontario government and mapping glacial deposits in southern Ontario.<\/p>\n
Matthews\u2019 colleague Brent Ainsworth attended Brock and invited Matthews to tour the campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cAinsworth introduced me to my first taste of university life and to some of the professors,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cSo it became really something totally different that I would be attracted to, something I found compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews lived near a sand and gravel pit in north Toronto and wondered why the earth was layered and why trees were sticking out of the gravel buried by tens of feet of sediment. He took samples of the trees and with the help of Brock\u2019s lab, carbon dated the specimens. The results showed the samples were 13,000 years old and of great significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe discovery got the attention of professors in Earth Sciences and became my first entry into Brock life,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cIt led to publishing a paper in 1980 in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthews says his time at Brock was extremely positive. The small class sizes created an almost intimate environment where he felt he could ask anything without feeling intimidated.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could openly discuss any issue and found credible debate without criticism,\u201d he said. \u201cMany professors brought me new knowledge and technique. Peter Peach\u2019s work with igneous petrology was excellent and Wayne Jolley got me hooked on volcanos. I became enthusiastic enough to do my bachelor\u2019s thesis on volcanology studying Precambrian volcanic sequences in Northern Manitoba.\u201d<\/p>\n Combining all he learned at Brock helped him form a package of how he could address mineral exploration, which lead to his career in the mining industry.<\/p>\n \u201cA key to success for me was to become a total expert in one discipline,\u201d he said. \u201cMastery of mineral exploration and geology allowed my other skills to follow. It led to more opportunities than what I was trained for including my interest in environmental management and protection.\u201d<\/p>\n While serving as a vice-president for a mining company in Arizona in 1990, Matthews \u00a0could see how the industry was treating Indigenous communities unfavourably, especially the attitudes brought out by the response to the Oka crisis in Quebec.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen everyone in the industry thought the mining in Canada was at risk, I saw it as an opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His connection to the Indigenous community came later in life.<\/p>\n \u201cI was part of the \u201860\u2019s scoop\u2019 and was separated from my Indigenous community at birth,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was ambiguity around my heritage growing up, but once I reunited with my community and was able to learn about my past, my connections grew.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthews was able to be transparent with both Indigenous and industry leaders he was speaking to. It took time, but it built trust in who he was and the collaborations he brokered.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to learn to listen to understand their needs and find common ground between both group\u2019s goals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Matthews has worked in the Red Lake camp for Interquest Resources and for the Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. He later worked for consulting firm PwC to facilitate agreements between mining companies and Indigenous Peoples for projects in Australia, Canada and South Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cI left the job security and pension behind at Indian Affairs and formed the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association (CAMA) as a volunteer and took the job at PwC,\u201d he said. \u201cA pension is less important to me than doing something good for society. I wanted to make change happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthews created the CAMA with a starting compliment of nine directors, all from the Indigenous community. The association grew from 50 to more than 500 participants and built a reputation for discussing the most prominent economic and environmental issues affecting communities related to mining.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the key things our organization does is bring trust to the process,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth sides feel confident their voices are heard while we seek collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n Respect earned in the industry led to his involvement with two of the largest environmental hot button projects in Canada: the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and the Grassy Mountain Coal project in Alberta.<\/p>\n Matthews feels the unifying factor between the mining industry and the Indigenous community is the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is where most of our conversations start. Without stewards of the environment on both sides ensuring adequate protection, it is very hard to move forward,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can hire a team of consultants and industry experts to make decisions based on science and precedent, but if you fail to listen to the Indigenous communities about the areas they continue to occupy and know best, you can\u2019t make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean Ejaz Ahmed of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science is pleased to have Matthews as the Distinguished Graduate award winner.<\/p>\n \u201cHans has demonstrated that applying ones\u2019 knowledge and accepting risk can produce significant results,\u201d he said. \u201cHis reputation and thoughtful style of collaboration are a benefit to the communities he serves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An early geological discovery of the oldest postglacial forest in the Toronto area helped steer Hans Matthews (BSc \u201983) toward Brock University\u2019s Earth Sciences program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":74860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,9794,7,3319,6833,41,1,4],"tags":[2594,3106,10884,348,10812,4226,2828],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74861,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74858\/revisions\/74861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}