Brian Outinen: Our Director of Vendor Management, Indigenous Relationships and ESG

Brian Outinen is our Director of Vendor Management, Indigenous Relationships and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG). While these roles sound very different, they are actually closely bonded together by our ESG Action Plan. Brian requires rigorous quality and ESG reporting from our suppliers, as well as sourcing vendors as much as possible from Indigenous communities. He also manages and implements ESG policies throughout the organization.

Brian has held various different positions in the Canadian military and the private sector, all of which have involved logistics and training. He was born in Serpent River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and still has close ties to his Ojibwe community there, and has run politically in the past for Chief of his First Nation. He decided to get into the language industry because he wanted to help fight the endangerment of Indigenous languages. 

“Once I found out that my language was at risk, I felt an obligation to do my best to not only translate, but to hire other people in all the First Nations, to give pride to the people by hiring them for a decent wage. Before, people were afraid to speak the language because they found no use for it, or they were told it was not going to be useful. 

By example, I'm showing them that there IS a use for it, and we can employ them so it's got a great purpose. That's why I work in the language industry.”

-Brian Outinen, Director of Vendor Management, Indigenous Relationships & ESG 

He graduated from Lakehead University in 2002 and is certified as a second language specialist instructor for Algonquian languages, which include Ojibwe and Cree, as well as many others that are on the endangered list. 

He worked with the Translation Bureau, an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for translating work done with the government. While there, he worked in various different agencies and capacities, including acting as an Ojibwe translator in Parliament and translating two separate federal debates. 

One of his biggest professional moments was during Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in 2022, where he was the voice of the Pope, speaking to the Ojibwe People in Canada as his interpreter.

ESG and Indigenous economic reconciliation 

While cost control is a central plank of vendor management, Brian also sources from Indigenous vendors where possible and enforces the NATIONS ESG Action Plan with vendors. Sourcing from Indigenous vendors means across the board, from office needs to interpreters to translators. 

“Any contract we do, whether it be construction or otherwise, that we've done our due diligence in doing the environmental assessments. It's a very important aspect of anything, even though we are a translation agency, but to communicate that the environmental aspects are clearly set out for the client and the communities that they are working with.” These measures include going paperless, controlling carbon emissions, and other environmental concerns. 

He is also responsible for managing both simultaneous and community interpretation, given his background as an interpreter. There is also such a high demand for interpreters that sourcing them is a big part of the job. 

Brian feels he’s found his professional home at NATIONS. He enjoys working with polyglots; most of the people at NATIONS speak an average of three languages, with many speaking more than that. Brian speaks English, French, some Finnish, and nine different dialects of Ojibwe. But mostly, NATIONS’ goals align with Brian’s own; the continuance and preservation of Indigenous languages, as well as economically helping First Nations communities.