A path to impact: Meet 3 Indigenous graduates forging meaningful careers with the Government of Canada

When these Indigenous students were hired through the Government of Canada’s Federal Student Work Experience Program, they hoped their student jobs would help them earn some coin and build their résumés. Little did they know that by taking these jobs, they were taking their first steps to meaningful careers, and into a work culture that is waking up to the power of their voices. Read their stories below. 

A path to belonging

Lee Hyndman, Service Manager, Employment and Social Development Canada

Duration: 4 minutes, 35 seconds
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Gentle thrums of deerskin hand drums reverberated through the auditorium, beating like a chorus of hearts to welcome the 55 people becoming Canadian citizens that spring day in 2015. Artwork by the Anishinaabe artist, Ice Bear, graced the stage, and Musqueam elder Larry Grant spoke about respecting Indigenous communities and languages across Turtle Island.

In the crowd was Lee Hyndman, who, as a member of the Indigenous Peoples Circle at Immigration and Citizenship Canada, had helped organize this special Canadian citizenship ceremony for Indigenous Awareness Week. Lee had included paintings by her father, Ice Bear, also known as Chris Johnson, in the event. She beamed as she witnessed him proudly displaying his Anishinaabe identity. “That filled my cup in such a big way,” she recalls.

It was 6 years before that day, in the summer of 2009, that Lee accepted her first job through the Federal Student Work Experience Program as a border services officer at the Victoria International Airport. She did her best to juggle university, her student job and raising a new baby with her husband, who was also a student.

Use our PDF poster to share these stories and job opportunities: Jobs for Indigenous graduates at the Government of Canada

Published: 2023-06-01

Strapped financially, Lee paused her university studies and moved back to Vancouver with her family. She used her student work experience to apply for public service internal job postings. Soon she was working full-time as an administrative assistant with the department now known as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, where she patched together different contracts for the next 5 years.

Lee was raised in Vancouver, far from her home community on the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, on unceded territory in Ontario. When he was just a toddler, Lee’s dad was taken from his family and sent to residential school, then scooped into foster care. “He never got to go back home,” says Lee. As a survivor, her father doesn’t talk about his past. So, Lee grew up knowing that she was Anishinaabe, but feeling cut off from that part of herself.  

Joining her department’s Indigenous Peoples Circle “was the first time I ever connected with other Indigenous people,” says Lee. “The network met regularly at different offices in Vancouver, and being a part of it made me feel whole,” she says. She even met cousins and members of her First Nation through GCconnex, an internal government virtual network. “It opened up a sense of belonging for me not just as a public servant, but as an Indigenous person in this country.”

Seeking job security, Lee moved to Employment and Social Development Canada in 2015 to work on employment insurance claims. She worked her way up from a payment officer position to team leader, and then, in February 2021, became a service manager overseeing a team of 76 officers.

Lee, who is now finishing her university degree online, leaped at opportunities offered by the Government of Canada to advance and learn on the job. Employment and Social Development Canada’s year-long Aspiring Leaders Development Program helped her qualify for a management position. The program sent Lee on a game-changing course at the Banff Centre called Introductory Wise Practices for Indigenous Leadership. “Through Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, I learned to re-story my life and my approach to leadership,” she says. Lee’s next goal: to move up to the executive level where she can help Indigenous colleagues thrive.

Feeling inspired? If you’re a high school, college or university student, you can apply for the Federal Student Work Experience Program year-round. Be sure to self-declare to be considered for more opportunities.


If you’re an Indigenous graduate seeking a government job, the Indigenous Centre of Expertise is here to help. Let us tell you about training and employment opportunities available to Indigenous people.

A path to impact

Thomas Nowlin, Junior Policy Analyst, Environment and Climate Change Canada

When Thomas Nowlin started as a program assistant for Environment and Climate Change Canada in Winnipeg in the summer of 2018, he did some practical, student-type work: “A lot of student work is doing the things that other employees haven’t gotten around to,” he says. “It gave me a lot of practical skills, like business writing, exposure to meetings, and learning how to communicate in a short and sweet way.”

But what kept him coming back to his job with the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program was the feeling that he was making a difference. The program had funds to give to Indigenous partners for water management, so Thomas worked with a colleague to create a map of all Indigenous communities along Lake Winnipeg. “We had good relationships with some First Nations, and no relationships with others,” he says, “so it was a good way for management to visually see that.”

Thomas knew his work and knowledge were valued. His managers kept extending his term. “They liked having a bridge back to academia, through me, to see what innovations were happening in the water world,” he says. So he stayed on part-time during school, and full-time for 2 more summers. In May 2021, he got another student job at Environment and Climate Change Canada’s new Canada Water Agency. “It’s exciting to be part of a national agency that’s working with Indigenous partners to create new ways to protect our water,” he says. He also likes the flexibility of being able to live in Edmonton where his partner, David, is finishing his studies.

But Thomas doesn’t just feel valued for his work. A Métis citizen from Thompson, Manitoba, he likes being in a workplace that is awakening to the power of Indigenous voices. “One colleague does water walking and ceremonies, and she’s supported to take that time off work,” he says. “I’m surrounded by a lot of allies who know the value of having Indigenous people work on all of these programs.” Thomas feels that reconciliation is genuinely moving forward in his department. “I see non-Indigenous people making time to listen, learn the issues and knowing when not to be the lead on things.”

His workplace has a strong Indigenous Employees Network, which lets Thomas build relationships with some of its 130 Indigenous members. They share knowledge, advice and job opportunities. The experience and insight within the network are valued too. The network is often asked to review strategies and frameworks as part of the department’s effort to “braid Indigenous and western knowledge,” says Thomas.

When Thomas finished his Environmental Science degree in May 2022, he considered working in an Indigenous organization or an environmental consultancy. “But I’ve always felt that you need Indigenous people in these roles to help different opinions get heard,” he says. He’s now a junior policy analyst at the Canada Water Agency, and when he thinks of his Indigenous partners, he knows he is still making a difference: “I feel like I’m working for them, not just the government.”

A path to purpose    

Kim Blanchet, Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Heritage

Kim Blanchet knew exactly what she was going to do after she finished her communications degree at Laval University. “I wanted to work for Red Bull and be in charge of their big sporting events,” she says. But a phone call from her auntie in February 2010 set her on a different path.

“She said that they were looking for Indigenous students in communications at [the department now known as] Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada,” says Kim. “My first reaction was like: ‘Oh my God, boring; I don’t want to work for government!’ But I needed experience, so I applied.”

Kim encourages Indigenous applicants to self-declare. Some jobs, like the one Kim applied for, are looking for Indigenous candidates. By self-declaring, Kim gave herself a chance at that job, and she got it.

Working in the department’s busy Québec City office, Kim realized that the Government of Canada was far more exciting than she had imagined. “That summer I got to work in all the different areas of communications, from social media to ministerial visits, to media requests,” she says.

And that Federal Student Work Experience Program job also unlocked a deeper purpose within Kim: advancing Indigenous issues. At work, Kim, who grew up in Québec City, was learning about the realities of life in First Nations communities, while at home she was learning more about her own identity.

“I’m a McIvor case,” says Kim, “My grandmother lost her status when she married my French-Canadian grandfather, and didn’t regain it until the late 1980s.” Kim is the daughter of an Anicinape father and a French-Canadian mother. “I was in my early twenties when I got my status card in 2013 after Bill C-3 was passed, and I felt it came with a responsibility. That was the start of my journey to reconnect.” She joined Abitibiwinni First Nation on the unceded territory of Anicinapek O Takiwa, visiting her community and meeting some of her cousins for the first time.

When she graduated, Kim had 2 offers: stay in government or work for an Indigenous organization. Kim chose government. “I knew I could move around and try other types of jobs with the same employer. Plus, the salary and benefits were great; it gave me financial security,” she says.

Kim sparkles with energy, a bright mind and go-get-it attitude, and her gifts were quickly recognized by managers. Early in her career, a campaign she pitched to recruit Indigenous students in her region was greenlit, and Kim landed the project manager position. The campaign went so well she was asked to take it province-wide, then nationally.

She moved to Ottawa, where she continued to connect with her Anicinape culture, learning from elders-in-residence at the Kumik Lodge, joining the Indigenous Employees Network, and spending time with her aunties who live in the region.

In the last decade, Kim has risen to the management level in human resources, worked in 4 government departments, and discovered her new passion: policy. These days she shapes Indigenous audiovisual and broadcasting policy as a senior policy analyst at Canadian Heritage.

Rather than working a “boring government job,” Kim’s career so far has been one full of passion, growth and change. “I like the option that working for the Government of Canada gives me to follow my interests and try something new. I always want to push myself, and in government, I can do that.”

The Public Service Commission of Canada collaborated with Indigenous public servants and undertook this storytelling project highlighting their perspectives. Implementing the Many Voices One Mind: a Path to Reconciliation action plan allows us to:

  • better understand Indigenous public servants’ experiences
  • support them in their professional careers
  • find ways to improve current practices to enable their full participation and inclusion in the workplace

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