Acden Our humble beginnings: Acden began as a labour services company consisting of one truck and ten employees. Owned by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), Acden is now one of Canada’s largest Indigenous corporations. Since its inception, our corporation has grown steadily and now encompasses multiple companies and ~1,800 employees.

Since 1994, Acden has worked to meet its founding goals: to ensure a strong, sustainable future for ACFN and to achieve service excellence.

From the beginning to today ​ In 1994, Tony Mercredi was Chief of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. During that time, Syncrude and Suncor were gearing up to expand their oil sands operations. This accelerated the growth of economic opportunity for Indigenous communities in the region. Chief Mercredi realized the opportunity to develop a business arm that could help the Nation achieve financial independence. That year, working together with Syncrude, Chief Mercredi established our founding company Denesoline Environment. The company started with one truck and 10 employees performing waste management services on site. One opportunity led to another and ACFN Business Group was formed, eventually rebranding in 2012 as Acden. Since 1994, Acden has worked to meet the same founding goals: to ensure a strong, sustainable future for ACFN and to achieve service excellence. With the continued guidance of ACFN Chief and Council, the administrative team at Acden keeps the vision of Chief Mercredi alive while adapting to an ever-changing economy, industry and region. ​

- Chief Allan Adam, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation

​ Acden remains focused on the integration of all companies to offer full service, scalable packages that are tailored to meet the evolving and diverse needs of our clients. ​ Did you know? Acden headquarters is LEED Gold Certified ​ ​