Youth CEO program gets to work

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This article was published 06/06/2019 (2330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As executive chairman of Winnipeg Jets owner True North Sports and Entertainment Inc., Mark Chipman is used to having input on the NHL draft process.

On Thursday, Chipman and 14 other executives with some of the city’s heaviest corporate hitters took part in a different sort of draft — a high-energy celebratory kickoff to the 2019 Youth CEO job internship program.

The event at the Neeginan Centre was cued-up to look and sound like the annual NHL draft day to generate some dramatic flair.

Interns strode across the floor the grand hall to the blaring theme for Hockey Night in Canada. As the students reached their partner executive on stage, the Spirit Sands drum group from Swan Lake First Nation punctuated their handshakes with a thunderclap beat.

The executives gave their interns fresh white ballcaps as the final flourish before cameras flashed.

Each executive was given time for introductory remarks, and Chipman used his to joke they were all part of the initiative for the same reason: the initiative to partner high school-aged Indigenous and immigrant youth with businesses is the brainchild of former NDP cabinet minister Kevin Chief.

And nobody can say no to Chief, Chipman said.

“Friendship with Kevin Chief comes with some costs,” he joked to appreciative chuckles from the audience and the attending company executives.

At the same time, said Chipman, striking a serious note, True North has built lasting relationships through the program. Its first intern three years ago has since been employed on the security staff at Bell MTS Place and is pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Chief MC’d the event, and focused on the importance of building relationships between the province’s biggest companies and its fastest-growing demographic.

“We know our workforce is becoming more diverse… If you work hard and you’re humble, I can guarantee the people here will make sure there is no job you can’t get,” Chief told the students.

The draft was followed up with a job fair, where more than 100 students from across Winnipeg heard from seven of Manitoba’s largest companies about careers and how to land jobs.

“I’m hoping to gain some insight into something I never really stepped forward for before, and to open some doors for myself,” first-year University of Winnipeg student Jerome Maytwayashing, 20, said moments before he was paired up with IG Wealth Management.

“It’s about investing in the Indigenous community in Winnipeg, and we get so much out of it. Last year, we learned so much from our youth CEO and the goal is to be able to hire more Indigenous people at IG,” said Sharon Harrald, vice-president of human resources for Investors Group in Winnipeg.

The Business Council of Manitoba and Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development partnered up with the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre to create 100 internships in 15 of the largest companies headquartered in Manitoba.

Companies host a group session interns attend to see what each company does and how it conducts its business. Each company then hosts one intern for a week to show them the ins and outs in a one-on-one mentorship program.

“Last summer, I gained valuable experience while working at Conviron. I was able to gain confidence and develop my leadership skills and that helped me in my first year of university,” 2018 #YouthCEO participant Denae Petti said.

The experience helped her land a summer job this year, to help organize tryouts for the 2020 North American Indigenous Games in Halifax.

Meanwhile, Cheyenne Moar, a Grade 11 student at St. John’s High School, is partnered up with the Winnipeg Free Press, where she’ll ponder the intersection between mainstream and social media in a digital age.

“I want to learn more about how media impacts the community, and how it can represent the people in the community better,” said Moar, who has family roots in the O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.

Ottawa provided more than $211,000 in program funding this year to the Winnipeg sport achievement centre for the initiative.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca