Hiring more Indigenous people a focus at job fair

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This article was published 02/03/2023 (1256 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cherika Bergsma was part of a pretty exclusive job fair this week.

As one of the recipients of the Business Council of Manitoba’s Indigenous Education Awards, the soon-to-graduate business administration student at RRC Polytech was able to attend the Business Council’s inaugural effort to connect some of the students it assisted with employment with its members.

And since the 95 members of BCM represent the largest employers and some of the most prestigious names in the province, it turned out to be a pretty good leg up for Bergsma and others.

For close to 25 years, the BCM has given out about $7 million worth of scholarships to thousands of Manitoba Indigenous students, typically enough to cover one year’s tuition.

As much as the financial assistance eased the stress for students, the organization eventually realized it was missing the chance to help connect the students with employment.

“It should have been an obvious piece,” said Bram Strain, the chief executive of the BCM. “So we’re correcting that today.”

It’s not clear if all the students realized the kind of employment opportunity they had in front of them. There were about as many employers as students at the event with all the big name Winnipeg companies with representation including Richardsons, True North Sports and Entertainment, Payworks, Pollard Banknote, Staffmax, Bell MTS, Canada Inns, Mondetta and many of the big banks.

Bergsma, 27, is a single mother who went back to school as she said, “to make things easier for my future with my daughter.”

Bergsma’s mother, who is a member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, works at assisting band members to get placements in post-secondary education and her father was a business owner.

But Bergsma said she had little confidence in her own ability to do well in the business world.

As a BCM award recipient she had been invited to a previous networking event where she was seated at a table with executives at Staffmax, the successful Winnipeg-based staff recruiting firm where she was won over by the good-natured corporate culture.

“I want to be at work where it does not feel like work,” she said.

She subsequently made it known that when she graduated she wanted to work at Staffmax.

When Kevin Gill, the founder and president of Staffmax found out, he was touched.

“It blew my mind,” he said. “It made me cry.”

Needless to say she’s got a part-time job at Staffmax and will start full-time permanent in June.

“I’m going to have her do HR, some recruiting and she’s going to work beside me to teach her about the whole industry to find the right role that she wants,” said Gill. “Recruiters make all the money so she’ll probably go into recruiting.”

The 37 businesses at the event were there because of their desire to hire more Indigenous people and to be more representative of the community where they work.

The extension of the BCM’s Indigenous Student Awards program, called Work-Integrated Learning, recently received $1.3 million from PrairiesCan for three years. Some of the funds will be used to provide a stipend to the students and subsidize the cost of salaries to employers for a limited period of time.

Members fund the rest with the provincial government pitching in 50 cents for every dollar from BCM members.

Strain said the goal is to double and triple the size and — and to be completely member-funded in three years. It is well on its way to doing that thanks to a $150,000 per year contribution from Mondetta for five years.

Ash Modha, the CEO and founder of Mondetta, said the program makes a lot of sense. A recent review of the program’s close to 25 year history found that the award recipients over the years were four times more likely to graduate than their peers.

“There is a significant opportunity here for us to do the right thing and that’s why we wanted to edge it up a bit further” Modha said. “What we like about it is that it’s needs-based not academic-based. These folks just need that little bit of extra money. It’s a simple thing. It is not difficult. But such a simple thing can make a massive difference.”

Even after a history of helping thousands of Indigenous students in the province over the past 25 years BCM members realize it takes more than providing money for students.

Mike Pyle, the in-coming chair of the BCM and the CEO of Exchange Income Corp., said the organization’s primary goal is to enhance economic opportunities for all Manitobans.

“We recognize this can’t be achieved without addressing the needs and issue facing Indigenous communities,” he said at the job fair event. “Our efforts prioritize Indigenous people. We’re committed to working with our members to find ways to support economic reconciliation for all.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca