Jerry Asp
Jerry is one of Canada’s most prominent Aboriginal Leaders. He is committed to enhancing the quality of life for Aboriginal People through the creation of new business opportunities and development of skills and capacity in the community.
His field experience in the mining industry began in 1965 when he started working on diamond drills. He then went on to work underground for six years in the Tantalus Butte Coal Mine, Carmacks, Yukon. During this stage in his career, he was the underground mine rescue Captain and President of the only all-native United Steelworker’s Local in North America.
Jerry has also applied his leadership skills to serve the public. In 2011, Jerry was awarded the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Skookum Jim Award which recognizes Aboriginal achievements in the mining industry. He was appointed to sit on the Yukon Mining Advisory Board in 2011.
Jerry was President and founding member of the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation. (1985), the largest native-owned and operated heavy construction company in Western Canada. He is also a founding member of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (1981) as well as the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association (CAMA) (1991 – November 2013) where he server as Vice-President.
Jerry was instrumental in bringing the Aboriginal Toolkit for Mining to fruition. This document received the 2006 Departmental Merit Award from Natural Resources Canada and in 2007 won the International Award as the best Aboriginal mine training document in the world, from UNESCO.
Jerry is an experienced negotiator. His success in this area includes negotiating the first native-owned independent power producer contract with BC Hydro, the first significant Impact and Benefits Agreement in BC’s mining industry (Golden Bear Mine) and he successfully negotiated for a new health facility to serve the Dease Lake area. Jerry has received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Metal March 5, 2013 for his contributions to the inclusion and training of Aboriginal People in industry, as well as the Frank Woodside award from AME BC (2015) and the very prestigious Inspired award for Business and Commerce (2017).
In 2018 he was appointed to the Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Body on Responsible Business Conduct (MSAB) by the Minister of International Trade. Jerry has shared his knowledge and experience with indigenous communities in Peru, Columbia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Belize, Guatemala, Argentina, Australia, Panama, the Philippines, Sweden, Norway, Canada and the United States. On January 9, 2020 Jerry Asp was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. And on May 8, 2020, Jerry was named Mining Person of the Year for BC by the BC Mining Association.
