Celebrating our Indigenous Relationships

Building lasting relationships with the people and places that make up our multicultural nation—Canada—is something Stantec is proud of and determined to maintain. These relationships include our connections with Indigenous Peoples and communities.  

Creating a greater understanding of Indigenous Peoples and celebrating cultures through film and media arts presentation

ImagineNATIVE presents the world’s largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, has a national tour focused on reconciliation, and provides numerous other activities throughout the year. The group is committed to public education and is dedicated to dispelling stereotypical notions of Indigenous peoples through media presentations with the communities.

In October, Stantec supported ImagineNATIVE by sponsoring the screening of a series of short films called Life Lines at the film and media arts festival in Toronto. These films showed us how community is a central part of Indigenous values. From births to deaths, communities are made up of families, friends, and ancestors and are the foundations for getting through the most treasured (and sometimes difficult) events in life. Life Lines traced the milestones of Indigenous Peoples that make up who they are and leave a legacy for the future.

Being inspired by the many ways a career can help a community

In March 2018, over 900 Indigenous youth from across Canada came together at the Soaring: Indigenous Youth Empowerment Gathering in Winnipeg. The annual conference, hosted by Indspire, helps students explore career opportunities that get them thinking about what their future might hold.

This was the ninth year Stantec has been involved as a conference partner—but for our employees, the most meaningful part is connecting with the students. This year, Dora Batista, intern architect and Jorge Ducharme, CAD systems specialist from the Stantec Winnipeg team combined their knowledge and experience to present a workshop titled “Three Stories of Career Building through Buildings, Design & Engineering.”

“We presented three stories about our very different journeys to finding careers at Stantec. We shared the many opportunities we’ve had to shape communities through architecture, design, technology, and engineering,” says Dora. “The Indspire Youth Soaring gathering was a wonderful opportunity to share how design can shape the world around us. In addition to sharing what I do and how I do it, it’s paramount to discuss why design matters. Design thinking, ultimately, allows us to dream, problem solve, and be empowered to make a positive difference in our community,” Dora continued.

Through interactive tradeshows, career workshops, and a local campus tour, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students had the change to meet Canadian employers, including Stantec. The next gathering will be hosted in February 2019 in Calgary. To learn how you can get involved, please click here.

Stantec Sponsorship strengthens partnerships between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities

In 2014, Stantec partnered with the University of Alberta to create the Indigenous Partnership Development Program (IPDP). It’s a three-day program designed to help non-Indigenous business and public sector employees understand and build stronger, more impactful relationships with Indigenous communities.

In the program’s three modules, the attendees learn about Indigenous worldviews, explore the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s framework, build skills to collaborate with diverse groups, and develop strategies for establishing long-lasting partnerships—all while understanding and recognizing challenges facing First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples.