Being Indigenous in the sciences: Laurentian University engineering student speaks on how to get more Indigenous people into STEM programs.

• Author: McKinley, Karen
• Position: NEWS

A student at Laurentian University in Sudbury--currently the only Indigenous woman in the engineering degree program--is on a mission to get more First Nations people into the sciences and executive boardrooms.

Kaella Earle said schools, businesses and government are making improvements, but there are many systemic problems blocking Indigenous people from pursuing professional careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs and executive positions.

Heading into her fourth year of studies, the Wikwemikong Unceded Territory member from Manitoulin Island is also working as a district engineering tech intern at Union Gas, recently acquired by Enbridge.

Since childhood, Earle said she has received support and encouragement to pursue her career aspirations.

However, she points to deep-rooted problems that are keeping Indigenous people out of STEM careers, including colonial mindsets imposed on First Nations, distrust over companies working in traditional areas, and the financing of Indigenous education.

"There are a lot of barriers. There are almost no Aboriginal people in engineering," she said.

"When I started at Laurentian, I felt vulnerable, being the only one in engineering. I've been studying with Dr. Jesse Popp (adjunct professor in the Department of Biology) and we are learning Indigenous people have had influence in the areas of science, technology, medicine and engineering for millennia. We had an advanced society here before contact."

Much of the problem at the information and history level has stemmed from how Indigenous people were viewed. Even now, Earle said there is a lot of false rhetoric depicting them as "savages."

They have been made to feel they don't belong in the technological fields or at the corporate level and have developed a colonized mindset, she said.

As well, she explained governments have been underfunding First Nation community education programs for decades.

This puts students at a disadvantage. When they head to postsecondary education, they are behind their fellow students.

"It's a toxic cycle. Schools are not set up for Aboriginal students' needs," she said. "To exist as an Aboriginal is a challenge."

How engineering is taught also has issues. It offers a social angle, Earle said, but currently does not look at treaties and their impact.

Earle credits her love for sciences from her father, who was an engineer.

He would take her to school with him while studying, take her to...