We provide leading services in Indigenous relations through a practical and effective approach.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that our business, Roundtable Consulting Inc., resides and operates on the traditional territories of the Niitsítpiis-stahkoii (Siksikaitsitapi — Blackfoot Confederacy), the Îyârhe Nakoda (Stoney), the Tsuu T’ina, and the people of the Treaty 7 region in southern Alberta, including the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3. We recognize and respect the enduring relationship that these Nations have to this land, waters and communities.
We honour the legacy of resilience, knowledge and stewardship held by the Blackfoot peoples — including the Siksikaitsitapi Nations — whose languages, cultures and laws continue to shape this region. We commit to learning from and working with Indigenous peoples, supporting Indigenous rights and fostering respectful, reciprocal relationships that contribute to healing and reconciliation.
Our Story
1982 Origins
Our story begins in the early 1980s, when a small act of listening changed the course of a career — and eventually, an entire field of practice.
At the time, Bob Blair (Nova Gas Ltd.) had launched a new “Native hire” program. Among the first to join was a young corrosion technician named Art Cunningham. A year later, on a cold Thursday in 1982, Art was called to Lac La Biche to mediate what seemed like a minor misunderstanding on a project site. What progressed as a shared meal of stew and bannock at the local Friendship Centre turned into a pivotal moment of connection, trust, and hiring decisions made on the spot.
The next week, Nova called him down to Calgary. There, he was offered a new position: the company’s first Native Liaison. As Art often jokes, it took him longer to learn how to spell “liaison” than to practice it. His work was already rooted in the teachings of his Cree moshum and kookum, Walter and Maria Cunningham, and his Danish grandparents, Jepp and Bea Kjeldsen, who together encouraged him to take the best of their worlds and make it his world.
Kitchen Table Stories
As the first-born grandchild, Art grew up surrounded by aunts and uncles who modelled leadership and responsibility. He played ball with Uncles Roy and Chester for the Brocket Rockets, listened to stories that blended humour with wisdom, and watched as Chester founded Native Counselling Services of Alberta. His parents, Hank and Marge Cunningham, grounded that same ethic of reliability and family first.
There were no training manuals for what Art stepped into — no job description, no policy framework, and no map. His first years were spent on the road, sitting at kitchen tables, Friendship Centres, and band offices across Alberta and Saskatchewan. He listened to thousands of Elders’ stories — stories many regulators at the time dismissed as “inadmissible.” But for Art, those stories were the data. They held law, lineage, and memory. He carried them back into boardrooms and regulatory hearings, insisting that oral tradition had to stand beside technical evidence.
Indigenous Relations Emerging
Over time, what was once disregarded began to shift decisions in archaeology, land use, and community engagement. Inside Nova, Art helped design new approaches to Indigenous employment, procurement, and contracting — guided by a simple logic: “You’re spending the dollar anyway” The work grew beyond pipelines. Art sat on boards, co-chaired social service programs, and supported Friendship Centres and education initiatives across Alberta. By the early 1990s, as Supreme Court rulings such as Calder, Delgamuukw, and Haida established the duty to consult, the practice Art had lived for years became law. “Indigenous Relations” entered the Canadian vocabulary — but for Art, the principle remained unchanged:
“I was fortunate to be part of a sector that understood the importance of relationships with Indigenous peoples.
They weren’t perfect, but they opened the door.”
— Art Cunningham
RTCI Today
Through that doorway, Art helped reshape how companies and communities work together. What began as a necessity — a need for access to land — became the gateway for understanding relationships as good business.
For over forty years, Art has built lasting relationships with countless diverse Indigenous and tribal communities across Turtle Island. His contributions have touched energy, infrastructure, education, environment, and governance — yet the essence has never changed.
It has always been about people. About family. About showing up with integrity.
That teaching became the foundation for everything that would follow — and the seed from which Roundtable Consulting continues to grow today.
“Art Cunningham helped our project bridge the gap for building effective relationships.”
—Katy F.
