When it was founded in 1997, the Aboriginal Women in Mining program had a simple goal: provide Indigenous women in northeastern Ontario with pre-employment training to help them enter the mining sector.
At the time, Indigenous hiring policies and quotas were uncommon, explained Kathy Lajeunesse, and many Indigenous women were being shut out of the work opportunities that were cropping up at mine projects in and around the North.
“Colonialism was and still is the lay of the land and it’s created systemic barriers and issues for Indigenous women, especially in mining,” said Lajeunesse, the partnership liaison with Keepers of the Circle, the program’s parent organization, during an online talk on May 18.
Since those early days, the program has rebranded — it’s now the Culture, Confidence and Competence, or Triple C, program — and expanded its mandate to prepare women for work in green construction, clean energy, food and agriculture.
The culturally based, eight-week program guides participants in career exploration, personal skill development, health and wellness, professional skill development, and sector-specific training.
Through its long-time partnership with Agnico Eagle’s Detour Lake gold mine, participants can complete a 20-week work placement, in different areas of the mine, and get a job upon completion.
At the mine site, participants have access to safe camp buildings and sports and recreation facilities, and there is ample opportunity to fish nearby. Indigenous participants are given time off to participate in traditional hunts, and there’s a team of Indigenous advisors on hand to guide the company on best practices that are more inclusive of Indigenous workers.
“Up at Detour Lake, they’ve done a very good job working with the Indigenous communities they have IBAs (impact benefit agreements) with,” Lajeunesse said.
“And so there has been some real attention paid to making sure that the Indigenous peoples from the communities that have an IBA, that are going off to Detour Lake gold mine, can have a good experience while they are there and want to return.”
Lajeunesse shared her experience during a May 18 online panel hosted by Women in Mining UK that examined the challenges and opportunities for Indigenous women working in the industry around the globe.
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