{"id":59225,"date":"2019-09-06T14:07:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T18:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=59225"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:52:10","slug":"environment-minister-engineering-diversity","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/environment-minister-engineering-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Environment Minister Meets with Carleton Engineering Students to Discuss Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n
<\/div>\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n Environment Minister Meets with Carleton Engineering Students to Discuss Diversity\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Environment and Climate Change Minister, Catherine McKenna<\/a>, sat down with a couple dozen students from Carleton University\u2019s Faculty of Engineering and Design<\/a> on Sept. 5, 2019, for an informal conversation about the value of equity, diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cInclusiveness is really important, and it requires thought \u2014 it doesn\u2019t happen by accident,\u201d said the federal minister, whose Ottawa Centre riding includes the Carleton campus.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThese conversations matter, but it matters more that we act on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Environment<\/figure>\n\n\n

The value of equity, diversity and inclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gathering, motivated by a desire to encourage more women<\/a> to enter science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, was moderated by Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering<\/a> Prof. Cynthia Cruickshank<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that today\u2019s discussion will help us come up with some new ideas and initiatives,\u201d said Cruickshank, who recently received $5.1 million in support<\/a> from the NRCan Energy Innovation Program and Ontario Research Fund to develop new building envelope technologies that can make Canada\u2019s buildings more energy efficient and less greenhouse gas intensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo
Carleton University Prof. Cynthia Cruickshank and Environment and Climate Change Minister, Catherine McKenna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Topics covered in the hour-long roundtable in the Minto Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering ranged from leadership and mentorship to work-life balance and what the path forward might look like for Indigenous communities and other under-represented groups in STEM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn different contexts, it might look a bit different,\u201d McKenna said about leadership, adding that how a leader engages their team and ensures there is space for everybody to contribute are both important factors.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to get feedback and to have frank conversations about what you can do better,\u201d she said, \u201cbut you also need to feel confident in your abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When the conversation turned specifically to women in STEM, one Carleton student noted that there\u2019s a generational difference \u2014 many of her peers are women while most of her professors are men \u2014 and another shared an anecdote about doing roadway density inspections and talking to contractors who directed their questions to her male assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Environment<\/figure>\n\n\n

Eliminating Barriers & Increasing Diversity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been progress in this area, McKenna said, but lots of work remains, especially around eliminating barriers to women of colour, women with disabilities and women from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the work-life balance front, McKenna said there\u2019s no magic bullet solution, stressing the importance of prioritizing and taking steps to minimize time lost to social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding mentorship, she noted that informal support can be just as powerful as structured mentorship programs \u2014 a point echoed by several students who talked about the value of leading by example and relationships in which the mentor and\/or mentee don\u2019t necessarily grasp the value of their exchange until months or years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Cruickshank asked about engaging Indigenous and other under-represented groups in STEM, McKenna widened the lens to talk about the challenges and opportunities of reconciliation as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo
Larry Kostiuk, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Engineering Dean Larry Kostiuk<\/a> talked about being born in an Indigenous community on the shore of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, where his family was a minority, and how he later helped start an organization called Engage North<\/a> that sends people with STEM backgrounds to live and work in Indigenous communities, where they have to adapt and learn how to incorporate traditional Indigenous knowledge with western science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInnovation is about getting outside your comfort zone,\u201d said McKenna, adding that \u201cone of the greatest challenges in Canada is not just saying we\u2019re diverse \u2014 it\u2019s living<\/em> it It\u2019s not just saying we\u2019re all different. It\u2019s learning from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cThe thing that gives me the most hope is young people,\u201d she said in conclusion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cYou guys see the world differently. I\u2019ve got great faith in you and I challenge you all to use your degrees to help fight climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Environment<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environment and Climate Change Minister, Catherine McKenna, sat down with a couple dozen students from Carleton University\u2019s Faculty of Engineering and Design on Sept. 5, 2019, for an informal conversation about the value of equity, diversity and inclusion. \u201cInclusiveness is really important, and it requires thought \u2014 it doesn\u2019t happen by accident,\u201d said the federal minister, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":59233,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,1931,25,31],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1918],"class_list":["post-59225","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_type-sustainability","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/59225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/59225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97228,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/59225\/revisions\/97228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=59225"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=59225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}