Workforce development

Our operations and growth projects present many career opportunities. Our goal is to ensure that Aboriginal people have the background and skills they need to take advantage of them, while also helping to meet our business needs for personnel. Supporting education and training programs to build workforce capacity in Aboriginal communities just makes good sense for everyone.

Here are some examples of how we’re working with Aboriginal communities to help young people participate in and benefit from our operations.

• Since 2002, our company has invested more than $1.3 million to support employment initiatives, school programs, technology scholarships and courses at the Six Nations Polytechnic in Ohsweken, Ontario.
• In 2008, we sponsored the introduction of a chemical engineering technology program at the Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton.
• We contributed $200,000 to support a pretechnology program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton.
• At our Cold Lake operation we worked with local contractors to organize a job shadowing day for Aboriginal high school students interested in careers in the trades.
• We sponsored 12 students to attend the Dreamcatcher Aboriginal Youth Conference at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton.
• In Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, we donated $30,000 to support a summer literacy camp organized by Frontier College.
• In the Northwest Territories, the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership and the Production Operations Training Committee were completed in mid-2008. These multi-year, multi-million dollar programs were created to provide apprenticeship, technical and other oil and gas related training.
• In 2008, through a partnership with the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, we awarded scholarships ranging from $500 to $8,900 to 20 individuals for use at post-secondary institutions.

Aboriginal program receives Stewardship award
Imperial Oil was honoured in mid-2008 by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers with a Steward of Excellence Award for its Cold Lake operation’s Native Internship Program. The program provides paid on-the-job training for Aboriginal people for up to two years, with graduates gaining valuable technical experience working in field or plant operations. Interns complete a comprehensive program including on-site training and a postsecondary power engineering course. Each intern is assigned a trainer as well as mentor from the Imperial Native Network, a group of Aboriginal employees dedicated to creating stronger relationships between the operation and local First Nations and Métis communities. Since its introduction in 1998, 35 students have participated in the Native Internship Program.