The National Post reports in its Thursday edition that Aboriginal Human Resources Council chief executive officer Kelly Lendsay says partnerships require trust. An unbylined item in the Post reports that Ms. Lendsay says: "Let's be honest here -- there's a lot of distrust out in first nations communities. ... It grows out of a history of exclusion." She says Bank of Nova Scotia understands the issue. "Scotiabank gets it." For Scotiabank, engaging with indian communities involves a lot more than opening branches on reserves. Scotiabank was the first Canadian bank to open an on-reserve branch in 1971. It operates 27 banking centres in aboriginal communities, four of them on-reserve. Scotiabank is one of a handful of companies to hold a Gold Level Progressive Aboriginal relations certification from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, something Lee Walker, Scotiabank's national director of aboriginal banking services, takes a great deal of pride in. She says: "I'm first nations myself -- Pikwakanagan -- and our aboriginal financial services strategy is something I feel very passionately about. ... Embracing diversity is one of the things that makes this a great place to work."