Breaking the ‘glass ceiling’ for Native American contractors

On the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation near Cloquet, MN, a project to remove two deactivated Enbridge pipelines involves several contracted businesses—92.5% of which are Native American owned. The project is led by general contractor Gordon Construction of Mahnomen, MN, of the White Earth Indian Reservation. “I have enrolled members from Fond du Lac here on my crew, and we’ve all become a big family,” says Vance, a foreman with Gordon Construction, a longtime trusted Enbridge contractor. “Enbridge is one of the only companies that has reached out to us Native Americans and tried to make us successful in the corporate world today,” says owner and president Matt Gordon. “To me, this is the glass ceiling being broken for all the Native American contractors.”