indigenous_inclusion_in_engineering

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Indigenous Inclusion in Engineering

Executive summary In 2019, as part of Engineers Canada’s work on equity, diversity, and inclusion, Engineers Canada approved the Operational Imperative 9 sub-strategy on Indigenous access to engineering. This sub-strategy includes a goal of collecting data on Indigenous engineering students and professionals in Canada. To meet this goal, Engineers Canada has worked with Big River Analytics to design and undertake a survey of the membership of three regulators—Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS)—who volunteered to participate in this pilot research project. The survey was designed to explore the characteristics and experiences of Indigenous engineers across the three jurisdictions from their formative years, that is, their upbringing and early education, right through to their professional experiences. This report and project has been guided by the advice of Engineers Canada’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, and builds on a previous report analyzing secondary data: “Indigenous engineering in Canada: Analysis of secondary data to support Engineers Canada's Operational Imperative 9 sub-strategy: Indigenous access to engineering” (2020). First, in order to understand the professional experiences of Indigenous engineers, we undertook a regression analysis to identify any systemic differences in the pay between Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineers. Controlling for a number of demographic factors, we find that the average salary of Indigenous engineer respondents is seven per cent lower than non-Indigenous respondents. This suggests the existence of a pay gap. When we include gender in the regression, we find that the pay gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineers is greater for engineers who are not cisgender men. In addition to analyzing the pay gap, we compare the current distribution of Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineers in senior or managerial roles. We find that non-Indigenous engineers are more frequently represented in positions of higher responsibility. When asked more specifically about challenges faced, Indigenous engineers identified low Indigenous representation in the workforce, especially for Indigenous women, as a challenge they face in their professional lives. Turning our attention to the post-secondary experiences of Indigenous engineers, we find that the most commonly identified challenges facing Indigenous engineer respondents during post-secondary studies were financial challenges (75 per cent) and loneliness/isolation (70 per cent). The most commonly identified supports that Indigenous engineer respondents said would have been helpful in post-secondary are monetary support, followed by tutoring and academic support. Notably, every Indigenous engineer who participated in an Indigenous engineering access program when they were a student raved about the program’s quality—for many, this program had a profound and positive impact on their journey to becoming an engineer. Finally, we observe from the survey responses that 95 per cent of Indigenous engineers surveyed have obtained a bachelor’s degree as their highest educational credential level. Lastly, winding back the clock to the years leading up to post-secondary, we understand that, collectively, Indigenous engineer survey respondents identify discrimination as the biggest challenge to pursuing math and science in high school (45 per cent). Subsequently, respondents note that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) outreach programs would have made it easier for them to pursue engineering. Indigenous engineers stressed that having a positive role model, such as a family member, mentor, or teacher that encouraged them to pursue engineering, was instrumental in their journey. Specifically, 29 per cent of Indigenous engineer respondents said that their main reason for pursuing engineering was because a teacher recommended that they should. Based on these findings and on qualitative survey responses of Indigenous engineers, we provide considerations for how best to support increased Indigenous inclusion in the profession, improve supports, and reduce barriers to Indigenous engineers in their experiences in formative years and post-secondary education. These considerations can be categorized into the following focus areas: 1. Research, including supporting research investigation barriers to licensure, barriers to employment, and barriers in education. 2. Training, including efforts to facilitate cultural learning, anti-Indigenous racism training, and policy changes in the field and in academic spaces. 3. Networking, or more precisely, ensuring that mentorship and networking opportunities for Indigenous engineers are widely available and accessible. 4. Programming, for example, providing more financial support to Indigenous students, widely communicating about the effectiveness of bridge programs and Indigenous engineering access programs, and developing tutoring programs at the high school and post-secondary levels, among other programming avenues. Acknowledgements Engineers Canada would like to recognize the contributions of staff and partners who helped make this report possible. The project was led by Cassandra Polyzou, with guidance from Engineers Canada’s 2

Indigenous Advisory Committee, significantly from Connor Scheu, P.Eng., Denise Pothier, P.Eng., and Randy Herrmann, P.Eng. The amazing team at Big River Analytics, led by Rebecca Wortzman, developed the methodology and the survey, and analyzed the data. The data could not have been collected without the partnership and collaboration of Marcie Cochrane, P.Eng. and Ailene Lim from Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia, Elvia Torres-Morales, P.Eng., and Tina Maki P.Eng. from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, and Lisa Stepnuk, P.Eng., and Nicole Everett from Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba. The report was reviewed and developed with guidance from Yasemin Tanaçan-Blacklock, Shelley Ford, Jeanette Southwood, P.Eng., and Gerard McDonald, P.Eng. We would also like to thank Marie Claverie and Engineers Canada’s translators for their work on the French translation of this report. Terms and definitions Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS): APEGS is the licensing body that fulfils its regulatory mandate by ensuring high standards of engineering/geoscience practice in Saskatchewan, by setting high standards for admission into the professions, by disciplining engineers/geoscientists who fail to uphold the professions’ practice and ethical standards, and by preventing the misuse of the title 'engineer' or 'geoscientist' by individuals who are not licensed members of APEGS. Engineers and Geoscientists BC: Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (BC) is the business name of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia. Engineers and Geoscientists BC regulates and governs these professions under the authority of the Professional Governance Act. Engineers Canada: Engineers Canada upholds the honour, integrity, and interests of the engineering profession by supporting consistent high standards in the regulation of engineering, encouraging the growth of the profession in Canada, and inspiring public confidence. For over 80 years, Engineers Canada has worked on behalf of the provincial and territorial associations that regulate engineering and license the country’s more than 300,000 members of the engineering profession. Engineers Canada’s vision is: Advancing Canadian engineering through national collaboration Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba: Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba serves and protects the public interest by governing and advancing the practices of professional engineering and professional geoscience in accordance with The Engineering and Geoscientific Professions Act of Manitoba. Formative years : Years up to and including high school, prior to post-secondary education for engineering. Indigenous engineer (Indigenous professional engineer) : A professional engineer who self-identifies as Indigenous. In this report, we use the term Indigenous as a collective noun that refers to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit who are the original inhabitants of the land today commonly called Canada. We included the option for survey respondents to identify as an Indigenous person from outside of Canada, but, for the purposes of this report, we count these respondents as non-Indigenous. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background In 2019, as part of Engineers Canada’s work on equity, diversity, and inclusion, Engineers Canada approved the Operational Imperative 9 sub-strategy on Indigenous access to engineering. This sub-strategy includes a goal of collecting data on Indigenous engineering students and professionals in Canada. To meet this goal, Engineers Canada has worked with Big River Analytics to design and undertake a survey of the member registrants of three regulators, Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS), who volunteered to participate in this pilot research project. The survey was designed to explore the characteristics and experiences of Indigenous professional engineers (Indigenous engineers) from their formative years, that is, their upbringing and early education, right through to their professional experiences. This report and project has been guided by the advice of Engineers Canada’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, and builds on a previous report analyzing secondary data: “Indigenous engineering in Canada: Analysis of secondary data to support Engineers Canada Operational Imperative 9 sub-strategy: Indigenous access to engineering” (2020). In Appendix A, we provide additional details on the methodology (A.1 – A.3) and a summary of the related research undertaken by Engineers Canada that contributed to identifying and planning for this project (A.4). 3

1.2 Project objectives This pilot project sought to develop and test the feasibility of collecting data from Indigenous engineers across Canada to inform Engineers Canada’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. To pilot this approach, three engineering regulators volunteered to participate in the project: 1. Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba 2. Engineers and Geoscientists BC 3. Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan (APEGS) In addition to learning about the design, feasibility, and requirements of primary data collection, the project also sought to answer research questions by collecting data on the representation and experiences of Indigenous engineers. A number of wide-ranging research questions, identified in collaboration with Engineers Canada and the participating regulators, informed the design of the survey, and fall under three broad research objectives: 1. Explore professional outcomes of Indigenous engineers, and how these compare to non-Indigenous engineers. 2. Gather data on Indigenous respondents’ journeys to becoming licensed, specifically identifying challenges and opportunities. 3. Identify ways Engineers Canada and provincial and territorial regulators could better support Indigenous engineers both in their educational journey, licensing practices, and in their work as engineers. Ultimately, the project is intended to collect information to inform how to make the engineering profession more inclusive and representative of Indigenous peoples. Specifically, the experiences of Indigenous engineers throughout each stage of their professional journey can help inform where additional, more in- depth or focused research is needed or where specific policies or programs could be developed or improved. 1.3 Report overview The report begins with an overview of data collected. The remainder of the findings are grouped by each stage of the respondents’ professional journeys: (i) professional experiences, (ii) post-secondary experiences, and (iii) formative years. The report concludes with a discussion of considerations for Engineers Canada and regulators to support increased inclusion of Indigenous engineers moving forward. 2.0 Findings 2.1 Data profile This section provides an overview of the data collected through enumeration of the Indigenous Inclusion in Engineering Survey . This survey included questions on professional experiences, post-secondary experiences, and formative years for Indigenous engineers registered with APEGS, Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba, and Engineers and Geoscientists BC. The survey was also available to be completed for Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineering students, Members-in-Training (MIT) or Engineers-in-Training (EIT), and engineering technologists—although these respondents are not the focus of this report. Similarly, while non- Indigenous data was collected and used for comparison purposes in select pieces of analysis, the survey was designed for Indigenous engineer respondents. An overview of survey responses by respondent type and by regulator is presented in Table 2.1.1. Table 2.1.1: Number of complete survey responses by regulator Regulator Total Responses Engineer Responses Indigenous Engineer Responses Indigenous EIT/MIT Responses Indigenous Engineering Student Responses APEGS 594 456 34 10 0 Total Indigenous Responses: 44 Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba 200 165 20 5 1 Total Indigenous Responses: 26 Engineers and Geoscientists BC 124 102 4 4 0 Total Indigenous Responses: 8 Total 900 701 58 19 1 4

Total Indigenous Responses: 78 Source: Big River Analytics Indigenous Inclusion in Engineering Survey - (Engineers and Geoscientists BC/APEGS/Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba). Note: Totals are not the sum of responses from each regulator, as some respondents identified themselves as being registered with multiple regulators and 25 respondents (all of which were non-Indigenous) are not registered with a regulator. There were no respondents who identified as Indigenous engineering technologists. Each regulator opted to distribute the survey to its membership through different methods, for example, email, surveys, and newsletters (see Appendix A). As a result, we saw varying survey uptake and response rates among each regulator’s membership. Due to the relatively low response count of Indigenous engineers licensed with Engineers and Geoscientists BC, we pooled responses across findings related to engineers’ professional experiences, post-secondary experiences, and formative years, rather than reporting on findings by individual regulators. In adopting this approach, we are able to increase the strength and precision of our analysis. We found that distributing the survey directly to members, as APEGS did, yielded the highest response rate, suggesting that this method would be best to adopt if other regulators would like to participate in a national survey moving forward. 2.2 Professional experiences Key findings: In this section, we explore the professional experiences of Indigenous engineer respondents, including average salaries, position and seniority, and barriers to licensing, and compare them (where feasible) to those of non-Indigenous engineers. 2.2.1 Pay gap analysis Based on our estimates, the average salary of Indigenous engineer survey respondents is seven per cent lower than non-Indigenous respondents. 1 Summary statistics on the income of Indigenous and non- Indigenous engineers are shown in Table 2.2.1. Table 2.2.1: Salaries of Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineers Engineer Group 25th Percentile Mean Salary 75th Percentile Indigenous Engineers $90,000 $117,090 $140,000 Non-Indigenous Engineers $90,000 $125,812 $160,000 Source: Big River Analytics Indigenous Inclusion in Engineering Survey - (Engineers and Geoscientists BC/APEGS/Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba). Number of Indigenous respondents: 50. Number of non-Indigenous respondents: 551. Question: "What was your annual salary or self-employment income from your engineering job or business in 2020?" “Which of the following categories best matches your annual salary or self-employment income from your engineering job or business in 2020?” Note: Outlier respondents with salaries more than 2.5 standard deviations from the mean (higher than $3,621,355) were removed. To further explore the Indigenous pay gap, we undertake and present results for two types of regression The average salary of Indigenous engineer respondents is seven per cent lower than non-Indigenous respondents, suggesting the existence of a pay gap. » When we include gender in the regression, we find that the pay gap between Indigenous and non- Indigenous engineers is greater for engineers who are cisgender women, transmasculine engineers, Two-Spirit engineers, gender non-binary engineers, or engineers unsure of their gender identity—that is, not cisgender men (14 per cent). » Respondents that report discrimination as a challenge in high school or post-secondary have lower salaries as engineers. Further studies should explore the impacts of discrimination in the workplace. » A smaller proportion of Indigenous engineer respondents are in senior engineer or manager roles than non-Indigenous engineer respondents. » Twice as many Indigenous respondents (eight per cent) do not work in engineering compared to non- Indigenous engineer respondents (four per cent). » 5

analyses. Regressions allow us to compare the salaries of engineer respondents while holding constant a set of factors we believe influence an individual’s pay. In regression analysis, explanatory variables are variables that measure other factors that could explain the primary relationship of interest, in our case the relationship between Indigenous identity and pay. For instance, age is a factor that can greatly influence the level of pay an individual receives, generally serving as a measure of an individual's experience. We include age as an explanatory variable in our regression models, which allows us to estimate the amount of the Indigenous pay gap that cannot be explained by age. There are many factors that cannot be easily measured, but are likely to influence an individual’s pay. For example, an individual’s “people skills” might determine whether they are more or less likely to get a promotion or raise. As such, regression analysis allows us to understand the correlation between factors (for instance, the correlation between gender and pay) rather than conclude if a given factor is causing an outcome. In our first type of regression analysis, we attempt to estimate whether there is an Indigenous pay gap, meaning, when holding other measurable factors constant, we still find that Indigenous engineers make less than their non-Indigenous counterparts. We do this by controlling for factors that are not related to being Indigenous; for example, age and gender. Once we add age and gender as explanatory variables, we estimate the Indigenous pay gap that cannot be explained by age and gender. A brief summary of our estimates are included in Table 2.2.2, with the full regression table, Table B.1, displayed in Appendix B. Table 2.2.2: Summary of Indigenous pay gap regressions Explanatory Variables Estimated Pay Gap None 6.3% Gender 5.5% Age 6.4% Age Binomial 5.8% Age Binomial and Gender 5.6% Source: Big River Analytics Indigenous Inclusion in Engineering Survey - (Engineers and Geoscientists BC/APEGS/Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba). Big River Analytics Regression Analysis. Number of Indigenous respondents: 49. Number of non-Indigenous respondents: 520. Note: Summary of OLS regressions and methodology used are included in Appendix A, with the regression table in Table B.1, Appendix B. None of the estimates shown are statistically significant using a confidence interval of 95 per cent. Age binomial indicates both age and age squared are included, allowing age to have a smaller effect as one gets older. 6

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