Rewarding evening with FNMI college grads

If you sensed a certain electricity in the air on Friday afternoon, you sensed correctly. Our city was over-flowing in what can only be described — to borrow a title from The Beach Boys — as good vibrations. The Enmax Centre was the location for the 2017 Lethbridge College convocation ceremony. Congratulations to all of the graduates and job well done on your hard work.

That evening I had the privilege of attending Lethbridge College’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit Honour Night – an evening dedicated to acknowledging the FNMI graduates from the College’s Class of 2017. Take that energy you may have felt during the convocation and then multiply it by 10 and add tons of pride and emotions. It was an incredible night. The Master of Ceremonies was the always entertaining Travis Plaited Hair who has a gift for interweaving facts with social realities, all done in a humorous way. It was also moving to hear the keynote speaker, Lowa Crowshoe-Beebe, describe her professional journey and acknowledge how when she graduated, a handful of FNMI graduates went for dinner and that has evolved to the FNMI Honour Night.

The program for the FNMI Honour Night noted approximately 120 graduates from over 40 different programs. It was an outstanding opportunity to speak with graduates to get a sense of what their aspirations are for the future. I was inspired to learn that many are continuing their studies at the University level or augmenting their education through additional courses relevant to their program of study.

I also viewed it as an opportunity to shake some hands and ask these graduates to consider the Lethbridge Police Service or the City of Lethbridge as a career option whether it be as an officer or in a civilian position. I am extremely proud of the partnership we have with Treaty Seven through the Treaty Seven Futures Grant Program which creates a mechanism for us to recruit and hire Treaty Seven students who are continuing their education and offer them career experience.

This year was the first year we expanded the Treaty Seven partnership beyond those who want to one day become a police officer. We hoped to attract a student from the business program to work with our financial services section. I was slightly let down when we did not get any applicants for this position so I also used the night to do some investigation to see if there is an underlying story — there is — and I am happy to report that generally it is a good story.

I approached a few of the graduates I had been told would be a great catch for the police service and/or the City of Lethbridge to acknowledge their accomplishment and beg them to consider us as a career. The graduates were very respectful, thanked me, were a bit shy, but incredibly honest that other companies had approached them a long time ago and secured their commitment. Outstanding! It was clear to me, based on my conversations and observations, that the banking, communications, technology and education sectors see the value of a diversified workforce and the contributions the FNMI graduates will make to their institutions. They had courted the graduates months and in some cases a year, before Friday night and demonstrated to them that they are welcome into their respective industries and have a bright future.

As pleased as I am for all the graduates, I have mixed emotions. Obviously I was let down that we missed out on some quality people to work with LPS. However, I could not help but be overwhelmed with pride that some segments of our society understand that it is 2017 and time for change. It is hopefully indicative of big-picture thinking in terms of who the fastest growing demographic is in Canada. I am cautiously optimistic that sectors of society understand the best way to serve a diverse society is bona fide inclusion in which the people offering goods or services reflect those who are receiving them.

The updated Round Street Report stated that roughly 16 per cent of the city is FNMI and my experience with these surveys is they fail to account for people who will not identify for one reason or another and do not reflect our temporary populations. Add to that the fact that the FNMI youth-young adult population is the fastest growing demographic in Canada and the patterns of Reserve to urban relocation, I firmly believe our FNMI population in the city is probably closer to 20 per cent. It was a teachable moment that re-affirmed my belief that private industry is light years ahead of public services in how they recruit and attract talent from the FNMI community and other diverse groups. This is ironic given that the public service, in my opinion, has a civic obligation to mirror the society we serve.

I know from a policing perspective we have a lot of work to do in this regard in Canada, and the LPS remains committed to our efforts to become more reflective of the city's population. We hope to be a viable career option for people from all backgrounds.

However, policing is only one industry in our society. Every industry, public and private, needs to recognize the value of diversity. Based on my observations on Friday night, there is a great crop of FNMI graduates for employers to choose from and some sectors are capitalizing on this. It is time for all industries to recruit and hire graduates from diverse backgrounds. Congratulations to all of the graduates and “be the change.”