Yesterday, at LOCOG HQ, we hosted a roundtable with Tewanee Joseph.  Tewanee, a member of the Squamish First Nation of Canada, who grew up on the Capilano Reserve in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where he excelled at a number of sports including lacrosse. He's now CEO of the Four Host First Nations Society and works on behalf of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations to ensure that the nations' traditions and protocols are recognised and respected in the planning and hosting of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

It was an inspirational meeting. 

Tewanee and his team have worked hard to mobilise the one million Aboriginal people across Canada to be part of the torch relay, volunteer programme and other events celebrating Canada's games next year.

What did it mean for us? Whilst there are clear differences between Canada and the UK, there were also some lessons for us. We are working hard to include people in the UK who are furthest from sport, furthest from the labour market, furthest from confidently stepping forwards to be part of London 2012.

So while Tewanee is trailblazing a path for Aboriginal participation in Vancouver 2010, we learn from him in creating pathways for people here. We now have 33 action plans from some amazing organisations feeding into LOCOG recruitment. These range from Royal National Institute for Blind People to the Stephen Lawrence Trust, from Evolution Networks to JobCentre Plus, from Neasden Temple to Bowls England!

Our job ads are online and are accessible but we also ensure we work with organisations such as the East London Mosque and Voice of Africa radio to promote our employment opportunities. Different pathways, same idea - including people. 

Given Tewanee's work we were thrilled that he was impressed with ours. It was a wonderful moment, to be reminded of the art of the possible.