Author: Sarah Leung

June marks National Indigenous History Month. This month it is important to recognize Indigenous people and their culture as integral parts of Canadian history. Over the years, the Canadian federal and provincial governments have been implementing more efforts towards mending relations with Indigenous peoples.

In 2021, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation was held as a nation-wide Canadian holiday for the first time on September 30.

In 2023, something on a provincial level will be integrated in B.C.: Indigenous course requirements for high school students.

What Is This New Requirement?

A new graduation requirement will come during B.C.’s 2023-2024 school year. For high school students planning to graduate that year, they must complete four credits in Indigenous courses.

Together with the First Nations Education Steering Committee, B.C.’s Ministry of Education created this requirement to showcase the importance of acknowledging Indigenous voices, histories, and knowledge.

Between March 7, 2022 and April 22, 2022, the Provincial Government of British Columbia asked British Columbians for feedback on this move. B.C. will be the first province in Canada to require Indigenous course credit for high school graduates.

Current Indigenous Course Education

In 2019, B.C. overhauled the curriculum for all students K-12 to include Indigenous content in multiple grade levels. Even with the new curriculum, most high school students have not taken any Indigenous-focused courses.

Most B.C. students graduate with more credits than required to receive a high school diploma, but the majority do not take any provincially approved Indigenous courses.

Despite the existence of courses such as First Peoples’ English and First Nations Studies in some schools, the implementation across the province is lacking. Only about 5% of B.C. students have taken and completed grade 10-12 level Indigenous or First Peoples courses.

Why the Change?

As Canadians, all parts of our country’s past — the good and the bad — need to be acknowledged. Without any awareness and/or acknowledgement, an answer to a problem cannot be found.

Canada’s history with Indigenous peoples has not been a kind one, nor has the negativity faded from the past. In fact, a lot of these events in history are recent: the first residential school in Canada opened in 1831, but the last residential school closed in 1998, less than 25 years ago.

Present and future generations of Indigenous people continue carrying the negative effects from previous (and present) treatment from the Canadian government.

While the horrors of the past cannot be erased, the inclusion of this Indigenous course requirement helps towards reconciliation. B.C. high school graduates will have the knowledge necessary to improve relations in the future.

Sources:

“Indigenous-Focused Graduation Requirements.” GovTogetherBC, Government of British Columbia, 22 Apr. 2022, https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/consultation/indigenous-focused-graduation-requirements/. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Jeganathan, Jeyan, and Carla Lucchetta. “‘Felt throughout Generations’: A Timeline of Residential Schools in Canada.” TVO, 21 June 2021, https://www.tvo.org/article/felt-throughout-generations-a-timeline-of-residential-schools-in-canada. Accessed 10 May 2022.

Little, Simon, and Neetu Garcha. “B.C. to Make Indigenous-Focused Coursework a High School Graduation Requirement.” Global News, 6 Mar. 2022, https://globalnews.ca/news/8661463/bc-indigenous-graduation-requirement/. Accessed 7 May 2022.

Ministry of Education and Child Care. “New Grad Requirement Ensures Students Expand Their Knowledge about Indigenous Perspectives, Histories, Cultures.” BC Gov News, Government of British Columbia, 4 Mar. 2022, https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022EDUC0007-000297. Accessed 7 May 2022.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Government of Canada, 29 Sept. 2021, https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html. Accessed 13 May 2022.

“Residential School History.” National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: NCTR, https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/. Accessed 10 May 2022.

“Residential School Timeline.” National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: NCTR, https://nctr.ca/exhibits/residential-school-timeline/. Accessed 10 May 2022.

If there’s one lesson that COVID has taught us, it’s that a great idea can flourish during times of adversity. For example, had you heard of Zoom before the pandemic?

The software was launched in 2013, where the initial version was able to hold conferences with only up to 15 participants. In December 2019, the platform had an average of 10 million participants daily. By April 2020, that number grew to 300 million. In addition, a regular Zoom meeting now can have 300 participants, at the same time, which can be increased to 500 upon request.

The success of Zoom is a tough act to follow, but that doesn’t mean no one can attempt to. Entrepreneurship can be a powerful tool, and though the pandemic is over, new businesses can still strive to achieve success. And who knows, maybe you can be one of those who has a businessperson in them waiting to come out. Find out by reading below.

Have you found your passion?

Finding out where your passion lies is the first step in conceptualizing a great idea. For instance, Kevin Plank was a college football player in the early 1990s. He loved sports but didn’t like how sportswear always stuck to his skin when he was sweating while playing sports. Thus, he decided to develop a synthetic-based layer that soaked up sweat. By 1996, he was producing his own sportswear line and directly sending them to the National of Football League or NFL. Today, Under Armour is valued at almost $5 billion.

Have you found a need?

If you know you’re business-savvy but don’t quite know how to pinpoint what you’re passionate about, then maybe unearth a need instead. Here, you can put your observant skills to good use. What do you think consumers need that isn’t in the market yet? For example, well-known products like Velcro and Scotch Tape were inspired by creative inventors who were fully aware of their natural surroundings. Velcro was inspired by burrs of the burdock plant while Scotch Tape was inspired by the gecko. So don’t underestimate the powers of observation!

Have you built a network?

You don’t have to score a gig at “Dragon’s Den” to build a network (although that will certainly help!). All you need to do is utilize networking apps, and most of these are readily available like LinkedIn. Networking connects you to people with entrepreneurial skills who can help you as a mentor or as a peer. Like with anything, it always helps to reach out to those who know exactly what challenges you’re dealing with. This way, you’ll have a clear idea of what the process is truly like.

Have you attended events?

So one piece of good news about the pandemic being over is that networking doesn’t have to be regulated to Zoom or Microsoft Teams. With most everything being back up, so are in-person networking events, workshops, and talks. Find one in your area through Eventbrite and you’ll obtain connections to people with similar interests and goals.

Do you know how to promote yourself?

To be a great entrepreneur, you’ll have to have the confidence of a former U.S. President claiming that injecting one’s self with disinfectant is an effective way to fight COVID. Of course, whatever business idea you have will be way more plausible than that. It’s all a matter of believing that you do offer the greatest product or service and that people will miss out on a good thing if they don’t listen to you. However, being confident with yourself doesn’t mean being full of yourself. Remember, if you’re networking and someone offers suggestions or constructive criticism, take time to listen instead of being dismissive.

Now that you’ve read these tips, are you confident to work to be among the business greats like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg? Good luck!

Sources

Fox, Michelle. “Start-ups boomed during the pandemic. Here’s how some entrepreneurs found a niche.” CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/27/how-entrepreneurs-found-their-start-up-niche-during-covid-19.html.

Hennighausen, Amelia, and Eric Roston. “14 Smart Inventions Inspired by Nature: Biomimicry.” Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2015-02-23/14-smart-inventions-inspired-by-nature-biomimicry.

Plank, Kevin. “Under Armour’s founder was a college football player when he first developed the company.” Business Insider.  https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-started-as-side-hustles-2019-8#under-armours-founder-was-a-college-football-player-when-he-first-developed-the-company-8.

Tai, Jack. “Startup Surge: Pandemic Causes New Businesses To Double.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/01/20/startup-surge-pandemic-causes-new-businesses-to-double/?sh=5b4512de635d.

The University of Queensland. “How many people can attend a Zoom meeting or webinar?” https://support.my.uq.edu.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/2996/~/how-many-people-can-attend-a-zoom-meeting-or-webinar%3F.

In the early 2000s, there was a comedy musical that was well ahead of its time that took Broadway by storm featuring twenty-something puppets singing openly about financial issues, racism, and homosexuality.

One song that musical theatre enthusiasts instantly fell in love with had the lyrics: “What do you do with a B.A. in English/What is my life going to be?/Four years of college and plenty of knowledge/Have earned me this useless degree/I can’t pay the bills yet/’Cause I have no skills yet/The world is a big scary place.”

It’s been 20 years and these verses ring true until today. While it’s thoroughly impressive if one can recite the poems of Edgar Allan Poe or the philosophical musings of Friedrich Nietzsche, this ability doesn’t help pay the bills.

Thus, if you’re heading off to college or university and still deciding on a roadmap for your career, looking into programs that are skills-focused may be a better option than knowledge-based ones.

Skills-based: What exactly does this mean?

Skills-based may be a term you’ve heard before but don’t fully understand what it refers to. Simply put, it refers to abilities developed through practical means, whether through daily life or work. It’s in contrast to knowledge-based which refers to abilities developed through reading and having a grasp of concepts in a theoretical sense.

For instance, an aspiring chef may have read all the culinary-related books they could get their hands on, but these aren’t a guarantee that they’ll become a good chef. They have to learn how to cut vegetables properly and know how to take proper measurements of ingredients by actually doing these tasks. Relying merely on what they read on paper won’t work. Kendall Jenner most probably read how to cut cucumbers correctly somewhere, but she certainly didn’t know how to do it.

A skills-based approach to hiring.

Placing more weight on skills rather than knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean that an academic degree doesn’t hold any worth anymore. It simply means that employers are willing to look past the lack of an academic degree if job candidates can prove themselves qualified for the positions because of the skills they have.

For example, say there’s a job posting for an engagement coordinator for a university’s Government Relations Office that calls for a degree in Political Science, Public Policy, Communications, or History. One candidate boasts of this requirement but doesn’t have any skills. The other candidate had to defer studies for a year due to personal reasons. However, this candidate has experience working in a not-for-profit environment and has interacted with the government and the private sector. At the same time, this candidate is making up for lost time by taking a few credits per semester to complete the program.

In previous years, the first candidate would have the clear advantage, but with more employers now focusing on a skills-based approach to hiring, that advantage is not as clear anymore.

Skills-based hiring is the future.

According to a study by Joseph Fuller, Christina Langer, and Matt Sigelman published in the Harvard Business Review, skills-based hiring is on the rise. Employers now have also become aware of how important skills are for a position that they now describe the capabilities they look for in a candidate in more explicit detail than before.

As a result, job seekers are making more effort to update their resumes to include the skills being demanded for a position. It’s become more of a “don’t merely say, show” way of thinking.

Obtaining an academic degree is an achievement, no doubt. However, if one doesn’t possess the necessarily skills to back up what they offer on paper, then a degree isn’t much use. These days, being able to do something is definitely more valuable than merely knowing how to do something.

Sources

Doyle, Allison. “What Is a Skill Set?” The Balance Careers. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-skill-set-2062103.

Fuller, Joseph, Christina Langer, and Matt Sigelman. “Skills-Based Hiring Is on the Rise.” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/02/skills-based-hiring-is-on-the-rise.

Gorsky, Emily. “What is the difference between skill and knowledge-based learning?” OpenColleges. https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/blog/2020/04/27/what-is-the-difference-between-skill-and-knowledge-based-learning/.

Vander Ark, Tom. “The Rise Of Skills-Based Hiring And What It Means For Education.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanderark/2021/06/29/the-rise-of-skills-based-hiring-and-what-it-means-for-education/?sh=227b64754fa7.