Speaker Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt woman, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) draws on her experience in Indigenous employment and training to argue that the core failure of those programs is not Indigenous people but racist, hostile workplace environments—particularly racial battle fatigue in resource-industry work camps—that drive retention problems. She calls on employers to examine and change those workplaces rather than blaming Indigenous employees.
Chapters
Prior to starting my own business and focusing on reconciliation, I actually worked in Indigenous employment and training. I helped Indigenous people go back to school, find a job or even start their own business. But I now understand there was a core foundational problem with that work. Even though I still support that work, there's something that has to change. That problem still exists today. We should talk about it. Foreign. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And today I'm focusing in on all those employment and training efforts, whether it's provincial or federal. We often hear the ministers talking about one how many people are needed in often the natural resources industries, whether it's forestry or mining, and how they really want to support Indigenous people to gain the skills they need to do this employment. If you know anything about this field, you know that hiring Indigenous people comes with its own challenges. But retaining them, keeping them on board, keeping them as part of your employee base, that's incredibly challenging. And that's where the problem is. Because you see up until now, and for most people I speak to, they honestly believe that that retention problem lies on our shoulders. It's an Indigenous problem. It's them not wanting to get ahead. It's all of the horrific stereotypes alive and well and discussed as professional conversations in boardrooms and offices across this country. But not one person is talking about racial battle fatigue. That's what we feel when we are forced to try to engage and work and live in a racially charged environment. Work camps are racist. So I have yet to hear of a work camp that isn't that indigenous person. Or those indigenous people are going to have to listen to jokes that are not funny, racist slurs and stereotypes that are alive and well. Yet the employer is still surprised when the Indigenous employees don't want to stay and they blame us. But why do we have to pay so much more to work there? The other employees don't have to endure what we have to endure. We get paid the same amount. I can hear the people screaming about non taxable status here. That's a different video. What I'm talking about is the fact that you are not attacked for who you are in that workplace. And if you are, why are you putting up with that? Because if there's one thing I love About Indigenous in 2023 is so many of us have stopped just accepting the giving up, the acquiescence is slowly coming to an end. We don't endure that anymore. We realize that to have a paycheck, one doesn't mean we should have to endure it and two, if it does, this is not the place we want to get our paycheck from. Destroying our identity or allowing others to attempt to is how we got in this mess and it can't continue. So if you know of anyone working in those environments, ask them about it. Ask them how they would react if an indigenous person came to work there. Prepare yourself for the response and employers, the powers on your side of the feather. Time to start looking at the work environment that you describe as such an amazing opportunity. Is it really something that we just can't endure? I know the answer and I'm hoping to educate people on the answer so we can change this. I help way more indigenous people find employment they can just enjoy, not endure. And I hope that those employers do get the people they need. But they're not going to as long as they keep expecting us to endure the worst of the worst. I'd love to hear your thoughts comment below. Don't forget to subscribe until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.
