The program is being developed by Noble Consulting, a Calgary-based workforce development company, which is responsible for helping organizations build workforces through competency-based training.
According to estimates from Transport Canada, Canada’s aviation sector could be facing a projected shortage of between 42,000-55,000 workers by 2035. Which means an opportunity for Indigenous communities to ensure greater awareness of and access to aviation and aerospace careers as workforce demand grows.
The Indigenous Aviation Workforce Advancement Initiative, or IAWAI, is being developed by Noble Workforce Intelligence, looks to be Indigenous-led and co-designed through feedback with community members. For Noble Consulting, Indigenous community priorities, values and perspectives are extremely important.
Their main goal is for the IAWAI to become Indigenous-led and co-designed with participating Indigenous communities, with community priorities, values and perspectives helping shape its development and delivery. Showcasing technical, maintenance, operational and other career pathways is an important part of the Indigenous Aviation Workforce Advancement Initiative.
“We don’t want to bring a pre-designed aviation program into Indigenous communities. We want to build aviation and aerospace pathways with Indigenous communities.” said Eddy Atausi of Noble Consulting.
The program is being developed based on existing competency training, but Noble Consulting doesn’t want to simply bring a pre-designed program forward to Indigenous communities, they want to build aerospace pathways WITH Indigenous communities, and to create opportunities that align with Indigenous priorities and perspectives.
Noble also has plans to include different types of technologies into the training of a new workforce, and includes VR training, which primarily supports career exposure and experimental learning, which Noble Consulting says will help Indigenous peoples and Noble alike determine individual strengths, and where those strengths will be best used.
The creation of the Indigenous Aviation Workforce Advancement Initiative is on-going, and Eddy Atausi of Noble Consulting says that the community engagement part of the development is currently underway. Engagement of Indigenous communities has started, and Noble is continuing to establish relationships within those communities to help shape their initiative.
For Noble, the end-goal is creating sustainable pathways that enable more Indigenous people to explore, prepare for and pursue aviation and aerospace careers, while giving communities a meaningful role in shaping those opportunities.
We got to sit down with Eddy Atausi of Noble Consulting, and asked about how and why the Indigenous Aviation Workforce Advancement Initiative came to be.
We asked Eddy for some specifics of the program itself, and asked about why an Indigenous focused program made sense.
Eddy talked to us about the stage of planning Noble Consulting is in now, and what the next steps look like.
As Noble Consulting is in the stage of gathering community feedback, Eddy wants to hear from Indigenous communities. Whether you have questions, feedback, or want to get involved, Eddy wants to hear from you, and can be reached via email at Eddy.Atausi@nobled.ca.
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