Recruitment

• We are in the process of developing an aboriginal recruitment strategy to increase external hiring;
• Branches and regions currently set goals to improve Aboriginal representation through hiring activities and regional managers receive semi-annual progress reports;
• The Human Resources Diversity Initiatives group develops alliances between universities, colleges and community agencies and Bank business units to organize internships, job postings on targeted career boards, networking sessions, interview workshops and outreach programs; and
• Scotiabank representatives participate in many career fair events, such as the Delaware Nation Career Awareness Fair in Thamesville, Ont., the Six Nations Employment Symposium in Ohsweken, Ont., and Blueprint for the Future, a series of national career fairs for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit high school students.

Partnerships, sponsorships and development programs

• We continued to work with Financial Industry Partnership for Aboriginal Relations (FIPAR) to present banking industry career opportunities to Aboriginal persons;
• We collaborated with community-based organizations to create innovative capacity-building programs, such as the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, an Aboriginal college in British Columbia, and the University of Regina’s Aboriginal Career Centre, where we have committed to hiring co-op education students in the community;
• Scotiabank is a founding sponsor of the Aboriginal HR Council’s Networks of Change program to develop training materials to improve Aboriginal inclusion in the workforce;
• Scotiabank’s Master of Business Administration Bridging Program each year introduces 15 future Aboriginal business leaders to MBA programs offered at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Commerce. It also creates a $10,000 scholarship each year for an Aboriginal graduate student in the MBA program; and
• In partnership with the Foundation for the Advancement of Aboriginal Youth, Scotiabank each year awards 10 scholarships to Aboriginal business and commerce post-secondary students and offers them summer employment opportunities across Canada.

Internal awareness building

Staffing and recruitment managers have attended sessions and conferences hosted by the Aboriginal HR Council on Aboriginal hiring and retention strategies.