TEARA FRASER

Founder and CEO, Iskwew Air

The Canadian airspace is littered with the wrecks of companies, but that didn’t stop Teara Fraser from pursuing her passion for flying and starting an airline called Iskwew Air, with a single eight-seat Piper Navajo operating out of Vancouver International Airport in Richmond. Big deal, you might say. Well, Fraser is the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline in Canada and she came by her life’s calling rather circuitously, after a trip when she was 30 around the turn of the century to Africa. That trip was the first time she had ever been in a small plane and what set her curiosity meter ticking was the view while banking over the Okavango Delta in Botswana. That curiosity moved to something a little deeper on her next flight when she went skydiving. It wasn’t the skydiving that touched her heart, it was realizing that all she really wanted to do was touch the plane’s instruments while taxiing out. Returning to Canada, the single mom of two children earned her pilot’s licence, flew for commercial operators and started Kisik Aerial Survey Inc., which she sold in 2016. But the skies kept calling so she opened Iskwew (Cree for woman) Air earlier this year. Now 48, the Métis also runs a program called Give Them Wings, which encourages Indigenous youth to get into the industry, as well as the Raven Institute, which is committed to human and systems development. Here’s how she got started and what’s she learned.

The trip to Africa was transformational. I had never really been anywhere. When you make little things that seem impossible possible, then the next thing that seems impossible seems more possible. You just keep bridging that gap between possible and impossible until you make things happen.

This is how you know it’s a moment: there was a thing that came alive in my heart like I had never known before. It’s this moment where you realize that this is the thing that we’re all searching for, for our heart to come to life about something, something to be excited about. That was the moment I decided to become a pilot. I said to myself: I don’t know what it takes to make this happen, but I will, I want to.

I look back at that decision, getting my pilot’s licence and everything that followed after that, with some awe and wonder. I often say getting my wings has given me wings for everything else in my life, because I just believed that I could make that possible and then I did.

When you feel your heart come to life about something, isn’t that what you ought to be building your career around?

When you are in any male-dominated industry, it’s difficult for women to be a part of it, to be invited or feel welcome, and if they are, to feel like they belong, to feel like they are respected for the differences and the gifts that they bring. Our industry, and any other industry that lacks diversity in this way, needs women, needs Indigenous peoples, needs diversity of all kinds to truly thrive.

Diversity is paramount to good decision-making and good outcomes. Don’t do it for us, you need to do it for you. If you have a team of seven people, and the seven people all have the same experience, think the same way, see the same problem and see the same outcomes, great. But you’re missing a 360-degree view.

If you approach everything with a narrow scope, think about the wisdom and the opportunities that are being missed that are in service to really good decision-making and outcomes.

When I sold my aerial survey company, I contemplated that it was time to hang up my wings. But I just couldn’t let go. Is it because having my wings and being in this industry has given me so much? I concluded that I still wanted to be a part of this industry in a little bit of a different way. [Iskwew Air] is a dream I had before I started my aerial survey company and so it was a dream that still had to come to life.

One of my mantras is: Dream it, design it, do it. But sometimes a journey has its own path and you have to be open to that.

Speaking in pubic is very hard for many reasons. You always need to know who you’re speaking to and why you’re speaking to them, and be able to honour them. That’s your job regardless of who your audience is.

Being a pilot wasn’t in my field of vision. It wasn’t something that was visible to me. That is why it is important for me to offer my time so that youth can have the opportunity to learn about all the incredible careers that are out there and choose for themselves what it is that makes their hearts come to life.

The biggest lesson has been what is possible when you really set your mind to something, when you ask your community to support you in that.

What is a dream if it doesn’t seem big? Of course, there’s some skepticism, but it’s largely not helpful. You have to just set that stuff down.

I have started my PhD in human development and out of that, and some other work, I’ll probably write a book, and then see what else comes up. Is there another thing immediately coming? No. My focus is on Iskwew Air and building it steady and smart.

No one does anything alone. No one. This is a collective effort. I’m only able to do this because of all the things that were done before me and all the things that are done alongside me now. My ancestors are a part of making this happen and are part of what inspires me and keeps me moving. I’m deeply inspired by the wisdom, strength and resilience of Indigenous women all across this country.

Whatever it is that makes your heart come to life, be brave enough to chase it.