When Matt Dunn, P.Eng. first started working as an engineer, he came to work wearing a long ponytail in honour of his Indigenous heritage. A co-worker made a crack about it. Dunn wears his hair shorter now but is growing it out again along with his 4 year old son.
Anecdotes like these help to illustrate why Indigenous people are underrepresented in the engineering and geoscience professions. While Indigenous people make up approximately 15 per cent of the Saskatchewan population and roughly five per cent nationally, only 1.2 per cent of engineers identify as Indigenous.
“My experience reflects those of others studying engineering. One student I talked to dropped out after second year because she said she felt she was required to leave her culture at the door in engineering,” says Dunn, who for the last five years has headed up the Indigenous Peoples Initiatives program at the College of Engineering at University of Saskatchewan (U of S).
Barriers to Entry
The challenges Indigenous people face in engineering are many and varied, Dunn says.
“Socio-economic barriers are obviously a factor. There are also academic ones. Like many rural students, many First Nations schools don’t offer calculus or even pre-calculus which is a barrier for direct entry into engineering programs.”
“Some of it is the vicious cycle of lack of role models. Indigenous students don’t see many Indigenous engineers so they can’t see themselves in those professions.”
“And racism can be a factor, both overt and subtle. Many Indigenous students may view the sciences as being Euro-centric and feel that they undervalue traditional Indigenous knowledge.”
New Initiatives
To address these issues, Dunn has spent much of the last five years designing a comprehensive program for the college – the Indigenous Peoples Initiatives Community (IPIC) Engineering Access Program, which launched last August.
The program is modelled after two existing successful programs at the University of Manitoba and Queen’s University. Manitoba’s Engineering Access Program (ENGAP), which has been around since the 1980s, has been the inspiration for the Queen’s and U of S program.
“We owe so much to both those programs for the support and guidance they provided us.”
The program has three components: Pathways to Engineering, Summer Bridging Program and Student Success program.
Pathways to Engineering is a modified version of the ENGAP approach.
“ENGAP is really the Cadillac model for this idea. It takes a student with a Grade 10 education, places them in a modified first-year engineering program, delivered in-house at the university and upgrades them over two years so they’re ready to enter second year.”
“We don’t have the luxury of upgrading in-house, so we’ve developed our own program that suits the needs and resources in Saskatchewan.”
Students who do not have the pre-requisites to apply to the College of Engineering are provided with a year of academic upgrading, provided through Northlands College and the University of Saskatchewan College of Arts and Science.
IPIC endeavours to deliver this upgrading as close to home as possible for the students. The next phase, the Summer Bridging Program, prepares students to make the shift to the university itself.
Students spend several days on and around campus, in sessions focusing on academic preparation, navigating campus and transitioning to life in Saskatoon. Summer Bridging is required for students entering the College of Engineering through Pathways to Engineering and is also available to all Indigenous students entering Engineering.
“In this case, I think our program is a little bit more flexible. Theirs is based on a fixed term during the summer. We offer our sessions several times during the summer to adjust to students’ schedules,” Dunn says.
Finally, once the students are in the college, IPIC follows-up with its ongoing Student Success Program.
“This is a very important part of the program. We don’t want to just bring the students in and leave them to fend for themselves. It’s a voluntary program in which we provide holistic support services.”
This includes social, academic and financial support, leadership development and peer support. For first-year students, this includes meeting regularly with an academic advisor and attending first-year facilitated study sessions to help ensure their success as engineering students.
“Even before the access program started, we also put a lot of effort into providing career supports. I’ve spent a lot of time negotiating with companies like Nutrien and Hatch to join the Indigenous Peoples Industry Partnership Program, which provides our students with summer jobs and a tuition incentive. Some of those students have then gone on to careers with those companies.”
“The mining industry generally has been very supportive of our program. We received funding support from the International Minerals Innovation Institute which has been a huge help.”
Dunn cautions that the program will require patience and persistence.
“Things won’t turn on a dime. ENGAP’s experience was that it took them a long time to graduate one student. From there, they had to bootstrap themselves bit by bit over the course of years until the program built up momentum.”
Employers Can Help
Looking beyond the university, Dunn sees much that employers can do to support Indigenous engineers.
“There are culturally sensitive things that could be done. Most companies allow time off for funerals for immediate family members. But in Indigenous communities there may be many people who aren’t immediate family or maybe not even family members at all with whom you might feel just as much of a bond as a close family member. Indigenous workers sometimes have trouble getting time off for funerals or emergencies in these cases.”
Dunn encourages employers to take a cue from the university by integrating Indigenous art into the workplace and making space for cultural protocols such as smudging to create a more welcoming and diverse environment.
When companies look to provide funding for Indigenous causes, Dunn encourages them not to try to reinvent the wheel.
“You’ll often see companies decide, with the best of intentions, to launch a major initiative to support Indigenous students or workers so they will try to develop something that is brand-new and unique. In many cases, this will end up duplicating an existing program that is undersupported. So, it’s important for companies to take a look around and see if there’s an existing initiative in which they can invest.”
Moving Forward, Seeking Truth
Dunn will soon be taking his mission to a whole new level as he takes on a new position as the Indigenization and Reconciliation Coordinator in the Office of the Vice-Provost Indigenous Engagement of the U of S.
“Whether it’s engineering or any other aspect of life in Canada, we have to remember that reconciliation cannot happen without a clear understanding of the true history of Saskatchewan. Many people and companies want to become allies and their hearts are in the right place but without a thorough understanding of that true history – including residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and much else – they may not be as effective as they want to be.”