First Nations Employment & Cultural Conversations

The recent troubling discoveries of unmarked Residential School gravesites across Canada has been startling & distressing. These events have challenged many Canadians to ask ourselves about how we can better understand and learn about Indigenous history and culture. The recent terrible circumstances have prompted a national reflection and education process permeating thru every aspect of Canadian culture, community and business organization. By making a decision to engage in life-long learning activities, each of us can learn, understand and react accordingly.

In our Labour Market Partnership activities between Regional Industry and First Nations Human Resource (HR) representatives we’ve written blogs, created podcasts and produced corporate videos that collectively make efforts to describe and detail the relationships, the culture and interactions that will help build the foundation for successful employment opportunities. Sharing these digital links with the general community will provide insights and help the learning and healing process.

The compilation of blogs and podcasts are linked at https://mfgcln.com/category/first-nations-blogs/ & https://mfgcln.com/category/first-nations-podcasts/. We’ve written & interviewed about:

• the significant regional cultural impact of the Tsawout Big House construction project
• the stories and employment journey’s of the Camosun College / Tsawout Nation CELASET participants
• a series of articles reviewing the background and relevance of the Territorial Acknowledgement
• numerous articles discussing Indigenous relations, cultural transformations and systemic racism based topics

COVID forced our meetings and conversations between Industry and First Nations representatives to be held digitally (ZOOM). It’s challenging to build relationships and cultural understanding via an online environment. However, thru the commitment and patience of key stakeholders, we succeeded! One of our relationship building strategies was the production of corporate videos highlighting digital relationship building with regional Industry HR managers and executives. Companies involved included the Ralmax Group of Companies, Benson Cabinetry & Millwork, Terra Remote Sensing, Epicure and Engaged HR and are linked at https://mfgcln.com/corporate-hr-summaries-video/.

Please review and share with your networks!