Our Story
The Reach Group is the evolution of BCT Projects, a company founded by Leonard Jackson in 2016 to support capacity growth and economic reconciliation efforts for Indigenous Communities across Canada.
The concept behind what is now the Reach Group, is the culmination of 20+ years of experiential learnings taken from Leonard’s accomplished career of assisting Indigenous communities in their pursuit of capacity growth, economic development and equality.
Through his experiences, Leonard grew to understand that at the core of the inequality that plagued our Canadian Economy was an inability on the part of industry and commercial enterprise to communicate effectively with Indigenous communities. Leonard would establish BCT Projects and what is now the Reach Group’s approach on this core principle. The Reach Group would become an assembly of wildly successful and commonly principled enterprises that adopted respectful engagement, consultation and ultimately inclusion as a core operating tenet of their organizations values.
Through its success in building hundreds of collaborative and successful partnerships between enterprise and community, the Reach Group has perfected what they coin as “The Reach Approach”; a philosophy and business methodology founded in the willingness to listen first, seek to understand and walk beside our Indigenous collaborators in an effort to build meaningful capacity and thereby meaningful relationships with Indigenous community.
Meet Our Team
Leonard has spent more than 25 years of his professional career facilitating relationships between Indigenous communities and Industry across British Columbia, in strategic leadership and operational roles with the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation, the Aboriginal Mentoring & Training Association, and BC Corrections.
Known for his upstanding ethical and moral standards, and his unwavering commitment to doing what he says he’s going to do, Leonard has a strong track record of success in developing lasting Aboriginal-Industry partnerships across the mining, forestry, powerline, oil and gas, and transportation sectors.
Len’s strong communication skills and empathetic approach to work have demonstrated time and time again that it’s possible to build positive and meaningful relationships, regardless of geographical setting, project constraints, or other project variables.
Leonard is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation.
Partner
Jeff brings to The Reach Group over 20 years’ experience in the construction, logistics, and environmental-services sectors. He has a strong operations background with proven knowledge and skills in project and contract management, negotiation, and Indigenous inclusion and participation initiatives.
Jeff has led a number of SMB’s through significant growth and diversification strategies during the course of his career and along the way has done so while fostering strong relationships with Indigenous communities across BC.
Jeff’s proudest achievements are in developing long-term and impactful industry-community partnerships and projects. His passion and vision around these opportunities has driven the creation of productive long-term relationships, fair economic benefit, and meaningful capacity growth in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities across British Columbia.
Jeff is a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Outreach Coordinator
For the last fifteen years, since graduating with a degree in English and Sociology from Thompson Rivers University, Laura has been keeping herself, and others, organized.
Today, in addition to running her own health and wellness business, Laura shares her administrative, organizational, and planning gifts and skills with The Reach Group team and their clients.
To call Laura integral to the Group would be an understatement. She keeps the team on course, monitoring partnership and project activities, tracking outcomes and deliverables, and ensuring day-to-day operations run smoothly.
Laura is often the first point of contact for people making inquiries to the Reach Group, and typically remains closely connected to our clients over the course of their engagement with the team.
Associate – Legal and Regulatory
Merle practices Indigenous resource law empowering nations through title and rights affirmation, UNDRIP implementation, sustainable economic development and environmental conservation.
Merle is a ‘life of project’ lawyer assisting with negotiations of all stages of impact benefit agreements, joint ventures, regulatory engagement, traditional knowledge collection and other corporate and tax-related advice.
Merle is continuously engaged in legal support for emerging government to government negotiations in all resource areas including mining, oil & gas, forestry, pipelines, run-of-river and hydro projects. When needed, Merle adapts his solicitor experience and skill set to the emerging and developing needs of Indigenous clients.
Merle is recognized in the Business in Vancouver’s BC 500, Lexpert Directory and Chambers Canada as a leading lawyer in the area of Indigenous law.
Merle is a member and will inherit a hereditary chief title from Kitasoo Xai x’ais First Nation on the mid-coast of BC.
Manager – Community & Commercial Partnerships
Melissa is the Manager of Community and Commercial Partnerships at The Reach Group, where she supports the development, structuring, and advancement of strategic partnerships between Indigenous Nations and industry proponents across western Canada.
Her professional experience has centred on major infrastructure and resource projects working closely with both communities and proponents to ensure working relationships are respectful, commercially viable, and aligned with long-term community interests.
She prioritizes collaborative communication and supporting equitable relationships that balance opportunity, accountability, and cultural considerations. Melissa’s scientific educational and cultural background provides a practical, relationship-driven approach grounded in integrity, clarity, and long-term value creation for both community and industry partners.
Melissa is a proud member of the Tahltan Nation, brings a strong understanding of Indigenous governance, community priorities, and economic development objectives.
Our Services
The Reach Group Team provides their clients world class consultation and strategic business development services in the following key focus areas:
Commercially Focused
• Indigenous Engagement Outreach, Consultation and Inclusion
• Organizational Inclusion Strategy Planning
• Referral Processing and Support
• Business and Project Specific Development
• Government to Government Relationships
• Business Development
Community Focused
• Capacity Development and Growth
• Training and Employment
• Strategic Planning
• Economic Development
• Corporation Set-Up
Legal and Regulatory
• IBA Negotiations
• Joint Venture Establishment
• Regulatory Engagement
• Traditional Knowledge Collection
• UNDRIP Implementation
• Government to Government Negotiations
Our Group
