Centre for Initiatives in Education

Welcome
Welcome

Carleton University acknowledges the location of its campus on

the traditional, unceded territories of the Algonquin nation.
Welcome
Kirstei Abbott
 IESP Assistant
Coordinator
 Admissions, Student
Support, Coordinator of
Programs
 Studied Developmental
Psychology at Carleton
(B.A.)
 Pathways to degree

Enriched Support Program

Indigenous Enriched Support Program

• Program
• Degree
• Success
• Application
 ESP & IESP

 Designed for students who do not meet

traditional admission requirements but have
the potential to succeed at university
 Alternative route to admission: offering the
chance to start first year courses with
support
 Successful completion
earns admission to
degree programs
 ESP & IESP

 Students are fully integrated into the

Carleton community
 Enrolled in regular first-year classes
 Graded according to the same standards
 Participate in all forms
of campus life
 Indigenous ESP

 Created to address issues of access

to higher education for Aboriginal peoples
 Features:
 Indigenous Studies course
 Indigenous mentors
 Connections to Indigenous
community
 ESP & IESP Pathways

Offers pathways to degrees in:

 Arts & Social Sciences

 Business

 Engineering

 Science

 Computer Science
 Program

3 First-year Courses: Supported by: Plus:

First Year Seminar Mentors Student Advising

Academic
First-year course Workshop Advantage
Coaching

First-year course Workshop

 ESP/IESP to degree

Completion of ESP/IESP with the required average

earns you admission a program.

Credits transfer to your degree.

80-90% of students who fully

participate earn admission to a
degree after ESP
 IESP Development Pathway

Developed in 2015/ 2016

 Application

Application package is on our website:

Admissions decisions
are based on:
 Transcripts
 Written application
 Letters of reference
 Deadline:

carleton.ca/iesp carleton.ca/esp
 Centre for Initiatives in Education

Questions?
Advanced
Manufacturing
and IT Sector
Ontario Linkages
Project: Update
Trina Maher
 Ontario Linkages Project Goals:

• Increase the awareness among the Advanced Manufacturing and the

Information Technology Sectors about the opportunities, benefits,
and ways to engage & employ Indigenous talent

• Provide opportunities for organizations & companies to connect,

learn about one another, and collaborate
• Toronto Information Session January 31st 2019
• Sidewalk Labs Toronto, Troon Technologies & Centre for Indigenous
Innovation & Technology, MDA - A Maxar Company, Congress of Aboriginal
Peoples
• Waterloo Regional Information Session February 4th 2019
• Wilfred Laurier University, Communitech, NPAAMB, WF Planning Board of
Waterloo, Wellington & Dufferin

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 Ontario Linkages Project Goals:

• Develop an inventory of programs, service and resources that can

support Indigenous peoples education, training, and hiring into the
IT & Advanced Manufacturing Sectors

• Report on the situational analysis of the sectors – opportunities,

needs, challenges & promising practices

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 Ontario Linkages Project Goals:

• Host a Workforce Connex event for stakeholders to develop

actionable steps to carry forward with their engagement
after the project closes

Workforce Connex – Mississauga

One Day Event Between March 4 – 6, 2019

Planning Committee:
Six Nations Polytechnic, Forward Vision Games, NPAAMB, CAP,
GREAT, Sheridan College, Professional Quality Assurance Ltd,
Troon Technologies & CIIT, Fanshawe College, Sidewalk Labs
Toronto
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Industry Overview
Ottawa Employment Hub

Ingrid Argyle, Program Manager

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Information Technology
Sector Overview

Diane Barbosa
Director, K-12 Education and Standards

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Information and Communications
Technology Council (ICTC):
Indigenous ICT Employment Trends
 Where we come from: ICTC History

ICTC is a large network of industry, educational institutions, and policy makers

representing the digital economy in Canada. As an independent and neutral policy
advisor to business and governments across Canada, ICTC remains an
authoritative source of technology, economic information, labour market research
and is a leader in capacity building initiatives for that impact Canada’s digital
economy.

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The Digital Labour Market
Where does Canada fit internationally?
The Digital Labour Market, Our Motivation

Canada is expected to play an important role in the $3.8 trillion global information and
communications technology (ICT) economy.

Focusing on traditional areas of software services, as well as emerging areas such;

● Advanced manufacturing
● Intelligent retail
● Artificial intelligence
● Blockchain
● 5G.

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The Digital Labour Market, Our Climate
Despite the importance of technology adoption to business sector innovation and competitiveness,
Canada’s adoption rate remains low compared to our international counterparts.

This lack of skilled technology workers results in a direct lack of support to innovative fields. This
missing ICT labour market can negatively directly impact rural and urban;
● Manufacturing
● Finance
● Healthcare
Despite this opportunity and need, Canada is experiencing a shortage of skilled ICT talent, largely in
relation to demographic shifts and an insufficient volume of youth in the post-secondary supply pipeline.

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Digital Labour Market; Our Indigenous Future
The ability to engage our Indigenous peoples will be critical in addressing these shortages. However,
the benefits of engaging Indigenous peoples in the ICT and STEM labour force extend far beyond
labour shortages.

ICT adoption for Indigenous communities has the potential to shape a generation of youth that respond
to challenges and integrate into tomorrow’s digital economy in an effective and sustainable manner.

This ultimately becomes a net economic benefit for Indigenous communities and Canada as a whole.

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Indigenous students are constantly learning to walk in two different worlds -
it is often said they walk with a moccasin on one foot, and a running shoe
on the other; for this reason, it is critically important that we provide
culturally responsive pedagogy that teaches them the skills needed to be
successful in a technology-driven world.

...Many First Nations rely on external businesses to service various aspects

of the community...while the goal ... is to protect their inherent rights
through self-governance and autonomy - to provide services for the
community from the community.

With digital competencies, students will be able to contribute to the

implementation of needed services in their communities...enhancing the
level of self-governance and improving the well-being and quality of life of
those in the community. 25
 In 2016,
Indigenous peoples...
● Had more than 10k (1.2%) of the Indigenous population
employed in ICT jobs in Canada
● Had an ICT unemployment rate was 2.8% (overall ICT
unemployment rate of 2.6%)
● Had an overall Indigenous unemployment rate of 12.3%
● Positive growth trend identified since 2008

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Indigenous ICT Professionals:
● 31.4% of all Indigenous ICT professionals in Canada are employed in the ICT sector.
● 47% of Indigenous ICT professionals are First Nations, 47% are Métis, 2% are Inuit, 2%
are from another Indigenous background and 0.45% are from multiple Indigenous
creeds.
● Indigenous ICT professionals are younger than the non-Indigenous ICT workforce: 8.2%
of the Indigenous ICT workforce is between 15 to 24 years of age and 29.3% is between
25 to 34 years of age.
● Women represent about 27% of the Indigenous ICT workforce.
● About one-third have a university degree at the Bachelor level and 36.9% possess a
college or CEGEP diploma.

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So, What Does This All Mean?
As the quest for talent intensifies, our success in sustaining the development of a competitive
and innovative Indigenous population depends on how organizations, education and
government leverage opportunities for Indigenous people, while encouraging community
based, and our national digital economy.

Additionally, fostering a strong relationship with Indigenous communities is a primary ingredient

in to acknowledging past traumas and the marginalization that Indigenous peoples have
experienced in the labour market and our society.

Implementing policies that allow us to foster an Indigenous ICT talent pool in a collaborative
and inclusive way with Indigenous communities themselves is a fundamental process in
securing our collective social and economic prosperity.

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Where We’re Going: Our Digital Focus
Industry and associations, in collaboration with Indigenous communities should work
together to build awareness of ICT use, while brainstorming ideas on how to
incorporate digital technologies into the community and classroom.

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Suggestive Paths Forward: Opportunities To
Explore
Industry Champions: Post-Secondary Involvement: Support For Teachers & Admin
Educators at the post-secondary Government at all levels and
Industry, educators, and
level should improve the access to industry should increase the amount
associations should work with
of support available to teachers and
Indigenous communities to highlight mentorship and coaching programs, school administration staff, in order
the work of Indigenous role models
writing courses, and academic to assist them in integrating ICT and
employed in ICT, especially to
advising at post-secondary STEM into curriculums that are
Indigenous youth. Media,
culturally appropriate.
government and industry coverage institutions, to support Indigenous
displaying success stories of students throughout their university
Indigenous workers in ICT and
STEM professions can help to foster and college programs and improve This should include...
increased awareness and enhanced their educational outcomes.
understanding of the career
opportunities in the digital economy.

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What Can Be Changed; For Education
● Ensuring funding provided for on-reserve
students, is equal to non-Indigenous students.

● Equipping teachers with the resources, materials,

and professional development opportunities to
learn how to integrate ICT and STEM content into
lesson plans in culturally relevant and appropriate
ways for Indigenous youth.

● Educating teachers, without an Indigenous

background, who will be teaching in Indigenous
communities, Indigenous culture and the
pedagogical methods that best suit Indigenous
learners.

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What ICTC Can Do; For Education
Cyber Activity Days:
These activity days are designed around an individual MyFIT
school or community to get youth interested in code, (Focus On
IT)
cyber-security and digital citizenship. Focus On IT
(FIT)
Focus on IT (FIT), Middle Years FIT (MyFIT):
The FIT/MyFIT program is a nationally recognized
certificate process designed for students interested in
gaining real-world skills during their elementary and Digital Business Challenges
secondary school experience. FIT allows educators to
merge real-world and workplace challenges into the
CyberTitan
classroom, following a set of easy, curriculum mapped
pathways found within your province.

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What ICTC Can Do; For Education
CyberTitan:
This team and competition based program seeks to MyFIT
promote education and awareness in technology (Focus On
IT)
education and foster excellence in students pursuing Focus On IT
careers in cyber security or other science, technology, (FIT)
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas.

Digital Business Challenges:

Either in part with the Focus on IT (FIT) program, or Digital Business Challenges
individually, communities and/or schools are matched
with an organization hoping to solve a real-world digital
challenge. Students are tasked with developing a CyberTitan

proposal to help understand and solve the unique digital

scenario.

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How We: Move Forward
Indigenous ICT programs that have the highest success rates are those where the community
leads or collaborates in the decision making process. With that said, nonprofits can assist by
acting as important partners, collaborating between communities and government. Also critical
to the success of any such initiative is deep stakeholder collaboration — that is, government at
all levels, industry, associations, educators, and individuals, and most importantly, Indigenous
communities - working together. Through cooperation, collaboration, as well as idea and
culture-sharing, stakeholders can work together to build trust with Indigenous communities,
shape policies that create lasting benefits, and ultimately, move us all forward on the path
towards reconciliation.

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Thank You!
Any questions?
You can find out more at: www.focusit.ca

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Credits

● Design theme: Slides Carnival: Olivia Presentation Theme

● Research & Content: ICTC’s “Digital Economy Talent Supply:
Indigenous Peoples of Canada” 2017 -
https://www.ictc-ctic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Indigenous_Sup
ply_ICTC_FINAL_ENG.pdf

● FocusonIT: http://www.focusit.ca/
● CyberTitan: https://www.cybertitan.ca/

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