Board of Directors
Scott Patles-Richardson
Chair of the Board
Scott Patles-Richardson has been involved with NATIONS Translation Group since 2017 and was appointed Board Chair in September 2019 when he acquired the majority interest in the company.
With over 25 years of professional experience, Scott has founded, operated, and led diverse organizations at multiple stages of growth, from start-up to mature, across various industries, to produce millions of dollars in net revenues while generating dozens of Indigenous employment opportunities.
Scott started his career in business and corporate banking, working for banks including Scotiabank and RBC, where he developed a strong financial and analytical acumen that has enabled him to identify high-potential business opportunities. One of these was The Masha Krupp Translation Group, which Scott acquired and guided through a massive transition in a rapidly evolving industry. Rebranded as NATIONS Translation Group, it is now a 100% First Nation-owned enterprise and a leading provider of translation and linguistic services to the federal, provincial, and municipal governments in Canada, as well as a growing book of private and publicly traded companies.
Embodying a rare combination of expertise in mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and Indigenous engagement and advocacy, Scott launched Indigenous Financial Solutions to serve Indigenous communities and organizations and advises on strategic planning, governance, economic development, and capacity building initiatives. He also acts as chief negotiator on access to capital, impact benefit agreements, and land claims matters through his practice.
A dedicated and engaged board member, Scott serves as a board director and advisory committee member with several organizations leading private and public sector organizations as well as regulators. He is an independent Board Director for PWC Canada and a Member of the Indigenous Advisory with the Canada Energy Regulator as well as Red Lake Plumbing and Heating and on the Economic Development Corporation for his own community of Pabineau First Nation. Scott also leads the investment committee of a newly established Private Equity fund, of which he is one of the founding partners.
As a proud Mi’gmaq citizen from Pabineau First Nation in northern New Brunswick, Scott knows the importance of language within our communities.
Jean La Rose
Board Member
Jean La Rose is a First Nations citizen from the Abenakis First Nation of Odanak in Québec. He was raised in Ottawa where he studied Journalism at Algonquin College and obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Social Communication at the University of Ottawa/Université Saint-Paul. From 2002 to 2019, Jean La Rose was the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Mr. La Rose moved the network to a full high-definition platform, and it now employs more than 150 people nationwide and provides production opportunities for over 100 Indigenous producers in Canada. He established APTN service in eastern, western and northern communities, became a founding member of the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network (WITBN), and as partner of 2010 Olympics led the first ever broadcast in eight different Indigenous languages, 14 hours per day. Mr. La Rose has sat on the Boards of Directors of Indspire, the National Screen Institute, Media Smarts, Mother Earth Recycling (a social enterprise located in Winnipeg). Jean now heads up Dadan Sivunivut, which is a wholly owned APTN subsidiary that operates all of the for-profit subsidiaries that APTN has established over the last 12 years.
Arthur Laboucan
Arthur Laboucan is a council member of Fox Lake, one of three communities that make up the Little Red River Cree Nation (LRRCN) in Alberta. He has lived in Fox Lake for all of his life, and worked with children in the Fox Lake school for 18 years. For 15 of those years, he was a Cree Language and Culture Instructor. He became a council member soon after retiring from the school, and has been in this leadership role for 13 years.
Little Red River Cree Nation
Little Red River Cree Nation (LRRCN) is located approximately 750 km north of Edmonton and is made up of three Cree communities: John D'Or Prairie, Fox Lake and Garden River. The LRRCN has a population of more than 5,500 members. The Chief and Council are investing in the future of the community and looking to become self-determining through increasing their participation in economic development. Through their corporation, LRRCN acquired 49% of the shares of NATIONS and maintains a seat on the board of directors. With a large population of Cree speakers, LRRCN is proud to support the integration of an Indigenous language focus along with NATIONS’ large volume of French language translation work.