Each month, the Spotlight showcases ELN members and initiatives that are working to address pressing issues facing us–including trust, affordability, and prosperity. This month, we’re highlighting the Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology (CIIT).
BACKGROUND. Founded in 2018, the Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology (CIIT) is a non-profit organization that focuses on increasing the inclusion, representation, participation, and leadership of Indigenous peoples in the technology and digital innovation sector to further social, economic, and cultural prosperity.
CIIT works with Indigenous communities as well as educational and institutional partners to address the underrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the digital and innovation sector to create pathways for meaningful employment and community wealth generation. By working collaboratively with a variety of cross-sector partners, CIIT seeks to provide meaningful ways for Indigenous communities to contribute to and benefit from Canada’s growing technology sector.
GROWING REPRESENTATION. The tech sector is one of the fastest growing in Canada, but Indigenous representation is still very low with only 2.2% of the workforce identifying as Indigenous in 2016i. Many Indigenous communities are still addressing systemic and historical socio-economic challenges that have left large gaps in how digital technology is understood and used.
In addition, the lack of physical infrastructure in remote and rural communities limits access to high-speed internet and other digital tools, widening this digital divide. CIIT seeks to bridge this divide via three pillars of work:
- Tech skills accelerator: Capacity-building programming designed to grow skills and support success in the digital realm via employment and entrepreneurship
- Research and advocacy: Designing and piloting projects that amplify Indigenous voices in tech
- Collaborative innovation network: Facilitating the convening of Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners to bring forward important conversations and spark Indigenous-led, novel solutions
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE. Much of CIIT’s foundational work is focused on ways to change perspectives and apply an Indigenous lens to the sector’s traditional way of doing work.
Heather Sopovski, a dedicated volunteer, is excited about CIIT giving people in the sector “the ability to take fundamental ideas and transform them into something new to create space for people to work differently.” Ideas, such as AI, ethics, data, and privacy are understood differently though an Indigenous lens. By sharing this different way of thinking, those in the sector are better able to understand how technology, governance, and policy can be re-framed to encourage Indigenous communities to engage with the digital and technology sectors in ways that are reflective of their ways of being. This, in turn, makes them more likely to seek out opportunities in these sectors and increase representation.
CIIT also focuses on intentional skills development to provide employment pathways for Indigenous individuals. Technical skills, policy and research skills, and support for early-stage entrepreneurship are some examples of the training available that can help individuals prosper.
Not only do these pathways support individual earners to upskill and reskill, but they also open new opportunities for Indigenous-owned and led companies and businesses to innovate, scale, and grow.
LOOKING AHEAD. Rhode Thomas, Executive Director of CIIT is hopeful that our region “will soon see more inclusion of Indigenous leaders that are actively engaged in the tech sector and contributing to employer and workplace Indigenous initiatives”, and that “Indigenous communities become active participants in the conversation as well, especially as it relates to Indigenous data sovereignty and safeguarding traditional knowledge(s).”
Learn more about the Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology (CIIT).