SPARK 2025 Conference will ignite career paths for Indigenous youth

By Regan Treewater, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – SPARK 2025 is igniting career paths for Indigenous youth ages 16 to 30 for yet another exciting conference season. After the success of their inaugural year, Karen McCarthy, the Managing Director for the Inspire Group of Companies commented in a recent phone interview with Alberta Native News that: “We identified a need within our Indigenous communities.” This need was the initial ‘spark’ for the project, and now the empowering career conference is establishing itself as an annual undertaking. “You’ve heard the proverb about giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish. We know that people would much rather have the confidence to build themselves up.” She continued by explaining that within Indigenous communities youth are often motivated to go out and do something meaningful, but lack the information, skill-set, training, or support to shift gears and move their career potential from park, to drive: accelerating their dreams to manifest as their future.

Beginning on March 18, the three-day event will kick off with a pipe ceremony presided over by Clifford Cardinal from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. This will be followed by a networking event featuring Sheena Kaine, former boxer turned fashion model and Makayla Mantal, a nursing student from the University of Alberta. These two young ladies are invited to speak about their experiences preparing for careers and overcoming obstacles to follow their dreams. Delegates will be attending from across Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. McCarthy and her team are hopeful that with increased public awareness and outreach, they will be able to attract youth from the Territories and the Yukon. Event emcee Orest Zwozdesky will be introducing distinguished speakers and presenters throughout the proceedings, including: Shane Chartrand and Tammy Lamouche. During lunch breaks there will be even more options for engagement with presentations by Hayden and Cameron Saddleback and Linsay Willier. Already, if this does not sound like a standard career fair, that’s because it is something far greater. “We’ve definitely planned for time so that the delegates can network and explore booths set up by companies and organizations from different spheres of the work world, but it’s also about building skills and preparing our youth for getting out of their shells and launching their careers. We want to set them up to succeed,” McCarthy elaborated.

Organizers know that there are jobs out there, and there is a wealth of Indigenous talent out there with the potential to build careers in these positions, but that it is a matter or facilitating connections and building knowledge. “People might know that they are interested in something like healthcare but have just never taken that extra step of imagining themselves in that career. We have different postsecondary institutions and vocational trades schools attending the conference, for delegates to map out a path between their interests and connecting them with future careers.”  McCarthy is sensitive to the reality that it can be an even more daunting leap for Indigenous youth to move out of their comfort-zones after a lifetime of societal marginalization, or even simply a lack of access because they come from extremely remote communities. “Some of our attendees are visiting an urban environment for the first time.” She carefully noted that: “We don’t want to take youth away from their communities but rather empower them to help build the vitality of the places they come from. Many of the businesses that come to recruit at the conference are active in remote parts of the province.”

Some delegates may be arriving with a polished resume in-hand, while those still in high school may not yet know how to put one together or what should be included. Organizers have this covered too. “This year, there is time built into the schedule for networking and approaching potential employers with resumes,” McCarthy noted. “But we also have pre-conference workshops for resume writing and building interview skills to support delegates as they go talk to different companies and organizations.” For anybody who remembers the overwhelming anxiety of looking for their first job, the prospect of ongoing support throughout the career investigation process sounds like a dream come true.

The conference offers Indigenous youth the opportunity to learn more about careers in STEM, public service, trades, healthcare, and arts and culture. “After our conference last year, we saw that our youth also had interest in learning about how to become performers, artists, and actors. So this year we made sure to address this.” Youth will have the opportunity to explore the five themes represented guided by guest speakers and industry professionals.

The vulnerability of going out and approaching potential employers is enough to make most people want to recede into their comfort zones, but organizers have found a fun way to encourage networking. “We have these passports that the youth take around and get stamped as they visit different vendor booths, then at the end of the conference, there’s a draw for prizes: tablets, laptops, things that could really help a person as they begin to further their education or improve their skills.”

The three-day event has the goal of connecting potential employers with Indigenous talent – breaking down the societal barriers endured by persons from marginalized communities. The diversity of industry representation at the conference is a refreshing emphasis that within the workplace employers are seeking to support and amplify Indigenous voices. Registration to attend is still open and those interested are invited to visit: https://www.sparkcareers.ca/.  Employers interested in promoting Indigenous empowerment within the workforce are also encouraged to visit the website. McCarthy and her team are busy with preparations, but they are also eagerly looking forward to hearing good news from their delegates in the future as they propel their success in the career direction of their dreams.