Risk and relationships, from source to market

Keeping Canada’s trade corridors safe, trusted and moving.

Security, crisis communications, human rights and Indigenous and community engagement for the companies, investors, governments and Nations behind the projects that move Canadian goods to market, at home and abroad.

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What we do

One advisor for the risks that travel together.

A security incident becomes a human rights question, then a community dispute, then a news story, often in the same week. We bring four disciplines under one roof, so nothing falls between consultants who never compare notes.

  • Security risk management

    Site, terminal and corridor risk assessments, security programs and oversight of security contractors.

  • Human rights compliance

    Policies, procedures and training that meet the Voluntary Principles and lender standards, and can be audited.

  • Crisis communications

    Plans, exercises and on-call support for the day something goes wrong, from the first hour onward.

  • Indigenous and community engagement

    Relationships, engagement plans and grievance mechanisms grounded in rights and built to last.

The founder’s track record

  • 20+years in journalism, media relations, security and risk management
  • 1,948clients and staff evacuated by road and air from South Sudan in 2013 and 2016
  • 53remote, air-access-only UN bases kept guarded, supplied and paid through two outbreaks of war
  • 20countries in Africa and the Middle East where programs and field operations were managed
  • 6mining sites under a human rights and security program the founder built
  • US$28Mprofit growth contributed over four years while expanding a security firm into four new countries

Figures describe the founder’s work before Corridor was established in 2025, with the United Nations, the World Bank Group, a multinational mining group and an international private security company.

The corridor

Canada now, the North next, markets at home and abroad.

We follow the corridor: from projects on public, private and Indigenous lands in British Columbia and across Canada’s wider interior and North, along the rail, road, pipeline and port routes that carry their output, to buyers across Canada, in the United States and overseas. A dispute at a terminal or an incident at a remote site becomes a question for a lender in Toronto and a buyer in Chicago or Tokyo within days.

  1. Now

    BC Pacific gateways

    Port, terminal, rail and energy projects on the BC coast and in the Lower Mainland are moving faster under federal and provincial pressure to build. The risk: projects moving faster than Indigenous consent and benefit terms, opposition to anchorages and industrial land use, and labour disruption.

  2. Next

    Canadian North and Arctic

    Federal fast-tracking of northern roads, ports and dual-use infrastructure. The risk: projects on Inuit and First Nations lands moving faster than trust, consultation and local capacity can keep up.

  3. The market

    Canada, the U.S. and overseas

    Canadian and U.S. manufacturers, utilities and farms, and buyers across the Indo-Pacific. The risk: buyers, investors and regulators want proof of responsible sourcing and genuine Indigenous partnership, and a problem at the source follows the product to market.

Services

Five service lines, one team.

Service 1

Security and human rights risk

When to call us: Entering a new region or partnership, before financing or a lender’s audit, or after an incident.

  • Site, terminal, corridor and regional security risk assessments
  • Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) gap assessments and implementation plans
  • Human rights and security policies, procedures and SOPs that can be audited
  • VPSHR, escalation and use-of-force training for private guards, security managers and site staff
  • Selection and oversight of private security contractors
  • Travel risk and duty-of-care protocols for remote and northern work

Service 2

Media, crisis and reputation

When to call us: When you have a story to tell, before something goes wrong, and the hour it does.

  • Crisis, evacuation and business continuity plans with the communications plan built in
  • Crisis-readiness reviews and tabletop exercises
  • On-call crisis communications and spokesperson support
  • Issues management for project announcements, protests, public hearings and opposition campaigns
  • Media and high-pressure communication training for executives

Service 3

Community, stakeholder and Indigenous engagement

When to call us: From early planning through permitting, construction, expansion and operations.

  • Rightsholder and stakeholder mapping, engagement strategies and plans
  • Engagement grounded in treaty and Aboriginal rights, UNDRIP and free, prior and informed consent
  • Community grievance mechanisms that people trust and use
  • Mediation of practical disputes, such as access, land use, marine traffic and safety around active sites
  • Intercultural communication and facilitation with Nations, communities and governments

Service 4

Corridor intelligence and advisory

When to call us: Board meetings, investment and partnership decisions, market entry and annual reporting.

  • Geopolitical, regulatory, Indigenous and community risk briefings, with scenario analysis
  • Decision-ready dossiers and stakeholder maps for boards, lenders, investors and Nation leadership
  • Due diligence on prospective partners, operators and investors
  • Briefings on federal and provincial priorities, major-project listings and trade-corridor funding
  • Responsible-sourcing and supply-chain due diligence, including input to reports under Canada’s forced labour supply-chain law

Service 5

Indigenous partnership, local content and northern entry

When to call us: Preparing a bid, benefit or partnership agreement, or planning a first project, camp or office in the North.

  • Identifying, vetting and introducing Indigenous-owned suppliers and contractors on the BC coast and in the North
  • Local-content strategies that help meet hiring and contracting commitments in impact and benefit agreements
  • Support for Nation development corporations weighing equity or services roles, alongside their legal and financial advisors
  • A practical map of the northern operating landscape: who does what, seasonal logistics windows, permits and local expectations
  • Supplier development that helps Indigenous and northern businesses become contract-ready

Ways to engage

Start small or bring us in for the long run.

  • Risk snapshot

    A short, decision-ready briefing on a project, partner, site or corridor before you commit.

  • VPSHR or crisis-readiness review

    A fixed-scope review of your current plans and practices, with a prioritized list of fixes.

  • Partnership readiness review

    For a proponent or a Nation: relationships, agreements and risks, reviewed before a deal or an expansion.

  • Interim deployment

    An experienced security, communications or engagement lead on the ground while you recruit or through a critical phase.

  • Retainer

    Ongoing advisory support, including on-call crisis communications.

  • Government contracts

    Direct awards, standing offers and competitive tenders through CanadaBuys and BC Bid.

We are paid by our clients, never by suppliers or contractors, so every recommendation stays independent.

Who we serve

Anyone with a stake in a corridor project.

Public or private, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, in Canada and abroad. The services are the same whoever the client: a port operator, a mining company, an infrastructure fund, a municipality or a Nation.

  • Ports, terminals, rail and logistics operators including port authorities and operators expanding Canada’s gateways
  • Energy, mining and infrastructure developers from explorers to operators, including Indigenous-owned and Indigenous-led companies
  • Exporters, manufacturers and shippers whose supply chains, cargo or facilities run through Canada’s Pacific and northern gateways
  • Indigenous Nations and development corporations weighing partnerships, equity or services roles in corridor projects
  • Lenders and investors including banks, private equity, family offices, and pension, sovereign and infrastructure funds
  • Governments and public bodies federal, provincial, municipal and regional, Crown corporations, and foreign governments and trade agencies
  • Buyers and traders in Canada, the United States, the Indo-Pacific and beyond who need confidence in where Canadian products come from

Standards we work to

Advice that holds up under scrutiny.

Our work is built on the frameworks lenders, buyers and regulators already use.

  • Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights
  • UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
  • IFC Performance Standards and the Equator Principles
  • OECD Due Diligence Guidance for responsible supply chains
  • UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s UN Declaration Act
  • Historic and modern treaties, constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights, and free, prior and informed consent
  • Canada’s Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act
  • UN system security risk management and duty-of-care practice

Selected experience

Proven under pressure.

Work led by the founder before establishing Corridor, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. Each draws on skills Canadian corridor projects need. References are available on request.

  • South Sudan

    Evacuation under fire

    When civil war broke out in December 2013 and again in July 2016, led the road and air evacuation of 1,948 clients and non-essential staff, with charter aircraft, armoured convoys, crisis counsellors and embassy coordination.

  • South Sudan

    Keeping a UN mission running through war

    Lead project manager for the UN mission’s first-ever outsourcing of security services. Guarding, supply lines and national-staff payroll kept running at 53 remote bases through both outbreaks of war.

  • DRC and Zambia

    Human rights and security at mine sites

    Wrote a multinational mining group’s first Human Rights and Security policy, trained guards, police and managers in the Voluntary Principles, and led the community engagement committee across five mines and a refinery.

  • Africa

    An Africa-wide intelligence network

    Planned and led a private security company’s first Africa-wide intelligence network, built on credible sources across government, media, academia and civil society.

  • Africa and the Middle East

    Multi-country programs for the UN and World Bank Group

    Security, crisis management, business continuity and communications programs across 20 countries for UNODC, the World Bank Group and IDLO, including monitoring of a western Indian Ocean port and maritime security project.

  • International media

    Speaking for an organization in a live conflict

    Media spokesperson during the South Sudan civil war, live on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and interviewed by the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Robert Webster McKee

Our founder

Robert Webster McKee

Founder · Nanaimo, British Columbia

Rob began his career as a journalist in British Columbia, then reported from Africa and the Middle East for the Associated Press and Reuters, and from Southeast Asia for Foreign Policy.

He moved into security and risk in 2011 and went on to run operations, risk management and communications for an international private security company in East and Central Africa. He then led human rights and security at mine sites in the DRC and Zambia, served as Regional Security Officer for the International Development Law Organization for all of Africa, and held senior communications and security consultancies with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on port, maritime and shipping-container security projects across the western Indian Ocean. He has also worked as a Security Specialist for the World Bank Group in South Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and other crisis-prone environments.

Born in Kamloops and raised in North Vancouver, Rob is an alumnus of the North Shore Indians lacrosse organization, and won a national senior B championship as one of the team’s few non-Indigenous players. He founded Corridor in 2025 and works from Nanaimo, BC, with a worldwide network of well-placed, established contacts.

  • MA, Intercultural and International Communication, Royal Roads University
  • Diploma, Broadcast Journalism, BCIT
  • IAP2 Certificate in Public Participation (in progress)
  • Previously held Government of Canada Enhanced Reliability Status
  • English and Krio; intermediate Swahili; basic French, Spanish and Arabic

How we work

Lean, senior-led and on the record.

  • Senior-led

    Clients work directly with the founder, not a junior team, backed by a trusted network of specialists brought in when an engagement needs them.

  • With communities, not around them

    On the BC coast and in the North, we work alongside Indigenous-owned firms and local organizations wherever we can. We support Nations’ own leaders and advisors; we never speak for a Nation.

  • Confidential and independent

    What we learn about a client stays confidential. We flag any potential conflict before we start, never act for both sides of the same matter, and take no commissions from suppliers.

Thought leadership

Insights from the corridor.

Analysis and commentary on the risks and relationships that decide whether Canada’s trade-corridor projects move ahead.

The first pieces are on the way.

Short, practical analysis on security, Indigenous partnership and trade-corridor risk in Canada and abroad, written by Rob. To be told when they go up, email [email protected].

Contact

Talk to Rob directly.

Tell us about the project, the partner or the problem. A first conversation is free and confidential.

Email
[email protected]
Phone
236-628-3508
Based in
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada