THE KICKOFF:
Aaron Joe's entrepreneurial journey can be traced back to
2009, when the Sunshine Coast Regional District warned
that its landfill was nearing capacity. Joe, who grew up there
and is a member of the shíshálh Nation, was inspired by the
call to action: he saw it as an opportunity to build a facility
that could turn those materials into something useful.
He founded Salish Soils, a 10-acre facility in Sechelt
dedicated to collecting and processing waste. As Joe
explains, it "basically grinds everything up" and mixes it
into products like soil, compost and mulch. The company
offers collection services as well.
Aaron Joe
FOU N D ER AN D C EO, SA LI S H S O I L S
The company's mission is rooted in Joe's firsthand
memories of what large-scale land clearing can do to
communities. "We have one of the largest gravel mines on
the B.C. coast, right on our reserve in Sechelt," he says. He
remembers seeing hundreds of acres of land get cleared,
and all those materials windrowed and burned. "I could see
that it was impacting people's health, their lungs. It was
impacting the whole community."
Today, with 36 full-time employees on board, Salish
Soils works with municipalities across the region to help
manage waste from homes and businesses. It handles close
to 30 municipal contracts, including with the Sunshine
Coast Regional District, the Town of Gibsons and the City
of Powell River.
ACTION PLAN:
"The aha moment with Salish Soils was the first time that
I was able to transform waste into something that was
saleable," says Joe. He remembers piloting a German
technology called the GORE cover system (which the
company still uses) that mixed fish scraps and ground
green waste together. "It just was so inspiring to be able
to see that waste turn into soil," he recalls.
In 2022, Salish Soils secured a $2.5 million investment
from Raven Indigenous Capital Partners to improve efficien-
cies and expand operations. That same year, Joe started
developing a seven-acre community farm near Sechelt
Hospital.
Swiya Farms partners with Vancouver Coastal Health to
provide fresh produce for patient care and delivers boxes
to Elders and the local food bank. For Joe, the nonprofit
farm demonstrates the transformative power of land resto-
ration, regenerative agriculture and Indigenous traditions.
In a community surrounded by water and dependent on
imports, he feels it's especially important to show how
local businesses can help close the loop.
CLOSING STATEMENT:
"As Indigenous development corps are doing more and
more developments within the greater B.C. area, we see
an opportunity to be a leader in managing waste," Joe
says, citing the Squamish Nation's Sen'áḵw development
plans as an example. "That waste's got to go somewhere.
It's got to be managed. Hopefully it's not getting buried.
It always affects Indigenous territories. If it's being buried
or burned, it's affecting us."–R.R.
ENTREPRENEUR
OF
THE
YEAR
Your proudest moment in business?
Seeing young people from our Nation take
pride in our company.
After work, we can find you...
On my farm.
RAPID
FIRE
PACIFIC REGIONAL WINNER
36 | BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025
