Transcript
Transcript: The Stage is Set for Indigenous Hiring at ESDC
Chev Cheechoo
Hi, my name is Chev Cheechoo, Omushkegowuk, First Nations Cree from the Northern Ontario, James Bay Region. For the last two years, I've been part of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives within the Innovation, Information and Technology Branch of Employment and Social Development Canada. I feel valued, included and appreciated in IITB and ESDC and happy to contribute to the great work of Indigenous Initiatives within my branch and department. Our team has been working hard to develop and implement innovative ways to increase representation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples within the IT workforce of the government of Canada. I have been to many Indigenous career recruitment events and it is incredible meeting people from all walks of life and hearing their stories. However, let's be honest, there are some very real barriers that exist related to education attainment, linguistic requirements, geographic work requirements requirements and others that prevent many talented Indigenous peoples from joining the federal public service. Even the standard hiring process itself is a barrier to employment with the complexity of bureaucratic jargons and the numerous steps that are hard to understand and navigate. It doesn't have to be this way.
Over the last three years, our team has hired over 70 First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, by doing things different. What does doing things different look like? To make our onboarding presence stand out, we give welcome from the moment that the person starts with us with our welcome letter, express our support to help them with their journey, we share ideas, have thoughtful discussions in our Indigenous Employee Network but most importantly, we create growth and development opportunities. We work directly with Indigenous organizations and communities from all across the country, to promote opportunities using plain language job posters that describe what opportunities exists in ways that are understandable. When we hire Indigenous peoples, we focus on the person's passion and potential, and not the credentials. Importantly, we create jobs right in the communities. Our goal is to open doors of opportunity for Indigenous peoples who would like to come and join the federal public service family and we have shown that better outcomes are possible. Our most recent program is the IMIT Apprenticeship Program for Indigenous peoples. It's a program I'm really excited about. Here again, we are focusing on passion and potential.
The program offers a two year term program at the CS01 level for First Nations, Inuit an d Métis people who have interest in IT, without focusing on the amount of formal education they may have or may not have. And we harness their interest and help them improve and expand their knowledge and skills by creating a supportive environment that includes on-the-job learning with online training. Importantly, we also focus on ensuring supportive and culturally respectful work environment, where who they are matters as much as what they do. The goal is to help each apprentice be successful in the role and in other roles, both within and outside of the government throughout the career.
As 2021 unfolds, we will continue to work with our colleagues across the Government of Canada, including the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Public Service Commission, to expand the IMIT Apprenticeship Program for Indigenous Peoples into a Government Canada-wide program that will serve as a pathway to employment in the federal public service. I'm proud of the work that ESDC is doing in this area and the contributions we are making to help advance the process of reconciliation.
Thank you and Miigwetch.
