As the mining industry contends with a shortage of skilled workers, Indigenous peoples have often been described as an untapped resource that could help fill the gap. But how do companies attract Indigenous workers to the sector?
“Bringing it as close to home and making it as personal as possible is the most powerful way to get through to people,” Mah said.A member of the Tahltan Nation and the community relations director at BC-based Skeena Resources, Campbell said the First Nation works to attract community members who have graduated from, or are enrolled in, a mining-related post-secondary program back to the community to speak to youth about mining and what post-secondary education is like.
Under the program, if a worker has great skills for the job but is missing some qualifications, they are given the space and time to build on their qualifications until they’re ready.“That’s something that’s within an industry-controlled environment that we can invest in.” “Cultural awareness training is big part of this to make sure people understand how to conduct interviews in a culturally appropriate way and knowing that maybe Indigenous people have different signals, and may just work a little bit different than other people in interviews, and you have to be able to account for that and you're not being biased against that," Mah said.