The ḴELOŦEN ȻE S,ISTEW̱ Education Fund, which provides a minimum of one annual award of $5,000 to Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit, or Métis architectural or engineering students in British Columbia, has been awarded to three recipients for 2023.
The three recipients this year include Elijah Patrick, a second year Civil Engineering student at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and Connie Davis and Stacie Coutlee, both PhD students in Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia.
The list of founding contributors to the award include Toronto- and Vancouver-based architects Diamond Schmitt, and the Victoria offices of Number TEN Architectural Group, AES Engineering and RJC Engineers.
Through this initiative’s mentorship program, all fund applicants have the opportunity to make direct connections with industry professionals.
“There are very few Indigenous professionals working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in Canada,” reads ḴEL,ḴELOŦEN ȻE S,ISTEW̱’s website. “Many engineering and architecture firms work with Indigenous communities but few have Indigenous people working within their organizations. Our partners recognize this and want to help Indigenous people pursue careers in our industry. The fund will provide both financial support and career mentorship.”
“On behalf of our fund’s partners, I wish to congratulate Elijah Patrick, Connie Davis, and Stacie Coutlee for being recipients of our fund in 2023,” said Kear Porttris, Chair of ḴEL,ḴELOŦEN ȻE S,ISTEW̱ Advisory Committee. “Not only will these individuals bring Indigenous knowledge into their professional careers, they are already re-defining engineering design, inclusion and professionalism in Canada by bringing Indigenous practices and ideals into their studies.
“We are proud to be growing our offering and acknowledge the great work the applicants are doing in their fields. This is a tremendous time to be an Indigenous professional and it is exciting to see so many Indigenous people aligning their profession with their culture and community priorities.”