THUNDER BAY – “You are working on Indigenous territory on First Nations land in this area. No matter if you’re talking about a mine or you’re talking about any kind of business, know the area, know the history and know what you can do. It’s all the responsibility of all Canadians to participate in reconciliation,” says Wendy Landry.
The vice president of Indigenous leadership, partnerships and strategies at Confederation College, was one of three expert panellists at the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce leaders’ luncheon on Wednesday.
The panellists encouraged business leaders to strengthen ties with Indigenous communities and fielded questions regarding labour shortages, building Indigenous partnerships and advancing regional economic opportunity.
Landry recommended investing in “the Indigenous lens in your company, by reviewing your hiring practices, by reviewing everything from how you’re posting your jobs to offering that indigenous lens.”
“Like I said, I always say it, people hear me say it all the time, have a friend before you need a friend and build relationships with our First Nations. That is the key driver,” she said.
Peter Collins, chief executive officer of Chi Mino Ozhitoowin, said First Nations youths are a fast-growing demographic entering the region’s workforce.
“They’re migrating to Thunder Bay for opportunity. And you look at those opportunities, where are they? They come here for school, education, jobs and homes, and they end up with so many challenges,” he said.
“And that’s what we want industry to understand. Reaching out and respecting them because they come from home, they left their place where they were comfortable at, they’re coming to an urban setting, and a lot of them don’t understand the urban setting. So really building that relationship and trusting what they have done and trusting what they can do.”
If you give a youth a piece of paper and put an engine on the other side, ask them to read the paper and then fix the engine, he said, the engine will be fixed before they read the paper.
“Understanding that they do have talent and it’s not based on a piece of paper. It’s based on what they have learned in their community because they have to either build a home, build an engine, repair an engine or fix a car, whatever it may be. The industry has to understand that. They don’t have a piece of paper that says they’re a red seal, but they have the hands that said they can do the job,” he said.
Charles Cirtwill, president of the Northern Policy Institute, said the labour shortage in the north is going to get worse before it gets better.
He said it is important for businesses to start looking at their policy through an Indigenous lens.
“No matter how good an employer you are, you’re gonna have retention problems….Your primary objective as an employer should be to be an employer of choice, to be able to attract the people to replace the people you know you’re going to lose, not through any fault of yours, not through any fault of your industry,” Cirtwell said.
“The simple fact is that there are lots of people out there offering six-figure salaries. And sometimes you’re not going to be able to play with their six figures versus your six figures.”
Cirtwill said wage does matter.
“You hire them to make a profit for you. They come to work for you to make a profit for themselves,” he said.
Outside of the wages, Cirtwill said companies can look at sick leave policies and family emergency leave policies and extend them from three to five days.
Landry said bereavement leave is often challenging because most companies offer three days’ leave, but the Red Rock Indian Band, of which she is a member, have a four-day fire ceremony.
“Because we are provincially mandated, an opportunity that we’re working on in our board has already stated to us that you have to accommodate our religious organization, respecting their culture, respecting their language, hunting season. Somebody passes away, all of our communities have really connected relationships,” Collins added.
