At Gwaii, we are committed to being engaged and involved with our local community.
This year, we have chosen to focus our efforts on an environmental initiative- volunteering our physical efforts to local organizations, donating money to support environmental causes, and speaking at events where our knowledge and expertise can help to spread awareness.
Gwaii is also committed to engaging with local First Nations communities, not only through engineering work but also supporting and educating young members on career and education possibilities and training Indigenous staff on our projects.
Read more about our recent community engagement below!
We partnered with Open Ocean Robotics and Pacific Seaweed Industry Association to host a Beach Clean event at Clover Point Park in June 2023.
The afternoon included educational talks on conservation & biology, kids activities and games, and a social networking event afterwards.
Thank you to the community for such a great turn out. Together we collected 3 large garbage bags of waste!
We had a great time at the UVic GO ENG GIRL event, offering girls & non-binary youths from grades 7-12 with hands-on activities and encouragement to those interested in exploring engineering as an academic path and career!
It was wonderful to see and engage with so many bright, young faces.
Well done Julia & Melina – thank you for representing Gwaii! We love to see more & more young women getting into Engineering.
Julia & Corey attended the shíshálh Nation’s annual career fair, organized by the Nation’s Education Training and Post-Secondary Department in November with local Indigenous High School students.
We are excited to be offering job shadowing & mentee experiences to participants in the near future!
Late last year the Gwaii Team was given a tour of the TSAWOUT BIGHOUSE by Tsawout Councillor John Etzel, and Special Projects Manager Wayne Helgason.
This was a very special opportunity to learn about the history of the site, as well as the many events & ceremonies that will be held in this incredible new building.
Thank you to John & Wayne for so graciously hosting us and we look forward to the official opening!
We were very proud to be a sponsor of Seaweed Days 2022, taking place in Victoria, BC.
This amazing festival is hosted by Cascadia Seaweed, with the goal of expanding consumer acceptance of seaweed and its many potential uses — human food, pet food, livestock feed, bio-packaging, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and more!
We are (were) so happy to join a great group of local sponsors and collaborators to help bring this festival to life.
We are excited to be kicking off our Indigenous Mentorship Program for Environmental Monitoring & Surveying here at Gwaii. Our vision is to provide a space for Indigenous people to explore different aspects of engineering to inform their future careers.
This mentorship program is aimed at Indigenous professionals seeking to gain work experience & new skills within our two program streams: Environmental Monitoring and Surveying. The program will help build resume experience and provide a jumping off point for people seeking jobs in the field of engineering. Mentees will be provided a comprehensive list of competencies that they can expect to achieve by the end of their time with Gwaii, with regular check-ins and feedback from mentors.
Environmental Monitoring: Mentees will learn how to monitor construction and provide informed feedback to contractors to minimize environmental impact. They will also learn the basics of contaminated sites investigation with a mix of field and office work.
Surveying: Mentees will learn to use survey equipment and conduct a site survey from the initial set-up to the final import of survey points into AutoCAD. They will spend most of their time in the field in a diversity of communities across BC.
In June of 2021 we created the ḴEL,ḴELOŦEN ȻE S,ISTEW̱ Education Fund Award with our partners AME Group, Diamond Schmitt, Number TEN Architectural group, RJC Engineers, AES Engineering, and the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.
There are very few Indigenous, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis professionals working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Many engineering and architecture firms work with Indigenous communities, but few have Indigenous people working within their organizations. We recognize this and want to help Indigenous people pursue careers in our industry.
The Fund supports Indigenous persons residing in BC and pursuing post-secondary studies. The fund provides both financial support with an annual $5,000 award and career mentorship for all applicants.
To honour the local Nations, the team worked with the SENĆOŦEN Language-Revitalization Group to name the fund. What emerged through conversation was this phrase: ḴEL,ḴELOŦEN ȻE S,ISTEW̱. The English translation is “a dream for what becomes of you”.
We are excited to announce that we’ve received a Gold certification from BC Green Business for our efforts in reducing our environmental impact as part of our continued commitment to corporate sustainability.
Specific action steps were taken over this past year to meet the criteria for this certification, including:
Thank you to Patagonia Victoria who sponsored our certification.
Learn more about how BC Green Business is helping businesses take climate action.
For upcoming grants & funding opportunities for First Nations communities in BC, useful resources, company updates and more.
