Engineering The Future

Episode 40: Championing Diversity - A Conversation with EngiQueers Canada

March 04, 2024 • Ontario Society of Professional Engineers • Season 2 • Episode 40

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In this episode of Engineering the Future, host Jerome James speaks with Emily Barnes, president of EngiQueers Canada, about the challenges and progress of the 2SLGBTQ+ engineering community.

They discuss the origins of EngiQueers Canada, the importance of diversity and inclusion in STEM fields, and the role of allyship in driving positive change. Emily shares insights on working with queer-friendly engineering companies, inspiring young 2SLGBTQ+ students to pursue engineering careers, and the ongoing efforts to advance equity in the profession.

Jerome James  00:00

This episode of engineering the future is brought to you by National Bank, Ospreys official banking partner, national banks offer for engineers just got even better. Now with exclusive access to virtual healthcare advisory and legal assistance services provided by its official partners. Find out more at nbc.ca/engineer.

 

Female Voice  00:26

This podcast is brought to you by OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, the advocacy body for professional engineers in the engineering community in Ontario.

 

Jerome James  00:39

Welcome to engineering the future, a podcast brought to you by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. I am your host, Jerome James. It's an unfortunate truth that engineering and STEM fields continue to struggle with diversity, equity and inclusion, and often aren't representative of the world we live in. In today's episode, we'll be speaking with Emily Barnes, president of ng corps Canada, about the issues facing the two s LGBTQ plus engineering community, and what her organization and others are doing to promote a more diverse, equitable and inclusive profession. Emily, welcome to engineering the future.

 

Emily Barnes  01:19

Thank you for inviting me to be on this podcast as super excited to have received your emails about that. It's just time for me to do a quick intro about myself. And

 

Jerome James  01:28

yeah, let's, let's jump right into it. To begin with, you can share with the audience a bit about your background and the story of ng corps Canada. Sure.

 

Emily Barnes  01:38

So I guess I'll explain the origin of Engiqueers Canada is to also explain the origins of the McMaster entrepreneurs chapter because that's really where it all started. So for context, I am not a big master student myself, I am a Carleton University alumni. Also, this all occurred in like 2013 to 2017 before I was even in university, so it was very much third hand explanation of kind of how we originated but So fun fact, I guess first was McMaster was not the first and requieres student club to exist in Canada. Oh, really. So the first one was Carleton University. And then McGill. And then finally, McMaster. So the story of McMaster entrepreneurs starts with educators, Canada's founder, but at the time, you know, Chris, Canada didn't exist. So founder Vanessa, as a little baby gay, you know, entering first year of university, looking to find community. And definitely McMaster had a really strong engineering community. So, you know, she found that the least the engineering community part but it was lacking was lacking the queer community part. So she decided to pitch a, you know, an LGBTQ plus focused engineering club at one of their entry societies, ATMs, annual general meetings, and got a unanimous vote in favor and it's like 300 votes, who were all like yes to it, super excited for this club. So really, it became time to put in the work. The community was very welcoming of this new engineers club. You know, major leaders and students within the engineering community were super supportive. They participated in the club's first initiatives and everything. So to get more exposure to the group, they McMaster antiquior, has launched the Valentine's charity campaign, which is still a campaign that we do annually as a national organization. Now, so as the years went on, things became bigger. There was more, there became a focus more on professional development. So hosting panels on diversity in engineering, and now the social connection of coordinating with engineers, and, you know, having having their own McMaster educators at Toronto pride parades, and they were establishing themselves as a major resource on campus. So delivering, you know, equity trainings, workshops, to engineering students, even to a fraternity did a workshop to a fraternity about sexuality and inclusivity you know, this was not a time when there wasn't there wasn't so much emphasis on inclusive language and things like that. So that was really major. So

 

Jerome James  04:33

this group was not only serving the core community within engineering at McMaster, it was actually providing awareness and educational and training basically to, to the masses.

 

Emily Barnes  04:49

Yeah, so that is also how they got the word about Engiqueers is, is that they are a resource. And they had a lot of people reaching out to them. as well, from exposure at the Toronto pride and stuff being like, you know, I've having x issue on my campus, you know, what can I do about it. So that was really where the resource side of the organization started. So then they got the dean in the Faculty of McMaster started participating in some of these, some of these events and everything that Mac engineers was hosting, the social connection really became a big thing. They're hosting, you know, like, pub nights, drag nights, low key board, game nights and things like that.

 

Jerome James  05:39

And how was the reception from the rest of the student body during this time of like, making yourselves known on campus, building up that awareness, connections with leadership within the greater university community? I

 

Emily Barnes  05:56

can't speak too much on that. Because, you know, I wasn't around personally during that time, for context, that, you know, engineering, engineering universities in Canada, especially the bigger ones, like McMaster, where there's a huge focus on community, and there's a huge volunteer community, and they're super passionate about getting involved in clubs and volunteering and events and things like that. So that community was very supportive of an Engiqueers group existing. I remember Vanessa telling me something about how someone had tried to use like, Engiqueer as an insult against, you know, queer people in engineering and vessels, like we can use that we can definitely use that. And now it's become the name of our organization. But that's kind of just a funny thing. I'm not sure how the overall you know, student body received it. But the Deans and the faculty were supportive of this. This was also so a little bit of background information on the the lore, I guess of the McMaster faculty at the time, was that their red suits, which you might have seen in pictures of the master students, they were like, read flight suits. This is like their student, engineering major engineering club. And they were kind of coming under fire for, like sexist and degrading songs in the McMaster songbook. And so there was some tension between students and faculty at the time because of this. And so there was a lot of, there's already a lot of cultural change going on, in the McMaster, engineering student body. And so it really was, you know, an amazing leap to, during this time attention being like, here's a club, here's a way that we can make students feel more like they belong in this community, here's a resource that we can be for these students as

 

Jerome James  07:49

well, that makes a lot of sense. So as president of ng corps Canada, how do you perceive the current state of the 2SLGBTQ plus in the engineering field in Ontario, and as an extension in Canada.

 

Emily Barnes  08:07

I'll be completely honest, I have just completed my degree. So I haven't had much opportunity to experience the engineering field. But what we are seeing from a student perspective is a lot of engineering companies are looking to get involved with student charities and organizations. You know, a lot of like, a lot of EDI change occurs when there's new people at the table. And so, you know, those those new people are younger students are now entering the work field. And so there are a lot of companies who are looking to get involved in career organizations like enter careers, Canada.

 

Jerome James  08:48

That's great. I can see from your website that you're partnered with queer friendly engineering companies. Why is that important? And what defines queer friendly?

 

Emily Barnes  09:00

Well, I'll start by answering the second part of that question. I prefer friendly company, at least to me and to engineers, Canada is one that actively supports us queer employees and creates polity policies and spaces where, you know, they can feel like they belong. And they understand that diversity is not just, it's not the end all be all, because diversity is a pretty bag term. You know, someone who wears glasses and a room of people with perfect vision like that can be considered diversity. So, the really the end goal is inclusion and belonging. So a for your friendly company would understand that, you know, diversity is not the is not the end, it's only the beginning. And also, you know, following through with, you know, good intentions, so, a good intention might be you know, supporting pride, etc. During June, but do they do any advocacy for their career employees outside of Pride Month? Are there Paul? sees equal, you know, in terms of parental leave for diverse family structures, or even for so further racialized employees, you can kind of gauge how queer friendly company is by looking at other policies like that as well. To us, it's really important to partner with these companies, because, you know, we help advise companies on inclusive language in their workplace documents. And if I do like surveys or onboarding, you know, those are the first an employee's first introduction to the language and things that are used in the company. And it's also very beneficial for us, because these partnerships, help keep our organization running, and keep providing services as well. So it's, it's nice to be able to say, you know, we're, we're proud to be partnered with this company, because they're actively seeking to make changes in their organization, they're advocating for queer people, this company is setting the bar higher for equity in the workplace. Equally as important, though, it's important to partner with companies from fields that aren't necessarily thought of as queer friendly, for example, construction. I don't want to cast like a blanket stereotype over a whole field. But it is known to be very much like a boys club. And anything that deviates from that is, you know, abnormal or unwelcome unwelcome. But it's still valuable to seek out resources like Engiqueers, because it shows that there is a willingness to change to foster more equitable workplace environments. And it takes allies to do that, too.

 

Female Voice  11:45

We hope you're enjoying this episode so far. At OSPE. We're here for you make ensure government media and the public are listening to the voice of engineers. You can learn more at OSPE dot ON dot CA

 

Jerome James  11:59

I want to talk to you about schools for a moment. How is your organization working with schools to inspire young 2SLGBTQ plus students to pursue careers in engineering?

 

Emily Barnes  12:12

Yeah, so a major part of that is getting involved with their local member groups, because that that is their local community. And those are the people that they go, they go through their education with and having Engiqueers there as a resource, for example, you know, being able to participate in the schools Welcome Week, or things like that is a great way of flooding first year students know that, you know, there there is a resource or there is a community, as well. And then just being able to go through university, knowing that you have that community and that support. And then from a national organization perspective, we facilitate that social connection in other ways. For example, you know, we have a marching contingent in a few pride for AIDS and did outs or opportunity for inter school collaborations and everything like that.

 

Jerome James  13:08

Fascinating, asked me recognizes that the engineering profession must become more equitable, diverse and inclusive in order to thrive. What more can organizations like Osby, engineering firms and schools do to promote 2SLGBTQ plus ally ship and stem?

 

Emily Barnes  13:28

There are a bunch of things that, you know, these institutions can do to advance ally ship. So there's first is to recognize intersectionality? Are you familiar with that concept?

 

Jerome James  13:42

Why don't you explain it a little bit to our audience? Sure.

 

Emily Barnes  13:46

So intersectionality is the idea that we are all different aspects of our identity that intersect and inform our daily experiences, it means you know, that people can face multiple forms of discrimination or oppression and the kind of they build on top. So for example, a black woman is going to experience much different kinds of discrimination than a white woman, you know, it's it's both women, but they have different intersections of their identities with race. And so there are other aspects to like age, class, gender, sexuality, religion, that all intersect and make us who we are. So the first step, you know, is really for these institutions to recognize that people have intersecting identities and the changes you make to one thing aren't going to the gonna fix the other thing, right? It's it's important to it's you have to look at the broader scope, that even itself is a huge step. The other thing too, as I mentioned is you know, when you say are in support of something it's ally ship is really the pairing of good intentions with meaningful action. So there's no there's no ally ship without that meaningful action for For example, for school institutions not to call any particular institution out. But you know, not just touting that over a diverse university, you can feel included here. But are you actually funding your student groups? Are you super resistant to anytime they want to hold an event you're like, holding on to your wallets, and not providing a funding for for engineering firms, you know, implementing inclusive policies, non discrimination and anti harassment policies are kind of like the bare minimum to have for these engineering firms? Are the policies also inclusive of diverse family structures? Or are there Employee Resource Groups where employees can find like minded individuals and have a community at their workplace and feel like they belong in that community? Do they provide resources and support for diverse employees? You know, even little things like, is the employee able to use their preferred name on their company documentation? If there's name badges for an online portal government website, are they able to use their preferred name and set up their birth name.

 

Jerome James  16:10

There's also been a lot of steps, positive steps forward in recent years regarding 2SLGBTQ plus rights. But there still seems to be a lot to do on a long way to go. What keeps you passionate in this space?

 

Emily Barnes  16:27

Yeah, so it really does sometimes feel like an uphill battle, especially so for example, our conference, we're trying to get faculties from schools across Canada, to pay for their delegates to come to our conference. And so it's not out of pocket, because they're going to the conference to learn things and take it back to university to better to better the university as well. And so sometimes we're fighting deans and faculties to get the funding to be like, Yeah, this really is beneficial for you to send them here. And then you know, there's lots of, there's tons of like, anti trans protests and misconceptions about what's being taught in schools and things like that. But what really keeps me going is, even if only one person entering the profession benefits from what we do, then that makes it worth it. It's also the knowledge that things are getting better, even if it's like nonlinearly improving. You know, it's wanting things to be better for my future self, and then also for other young engineering grads entering the field. So it's important that there are role models in the space. And if there's no, if there's no, none of those role models, then we become those role models and the representation.

 

Jerome James  17:44

Well said, and of course, Engiqueers Canada recently won a professional engineers award. Can you tell us what winning this award meant to your organization?

 

Emily Barnes  17:53

Honestly, it meant the world to us to receive this award. It really was affirming definitely, that the work that we do is being recognized.

 

Jerome James  18:05

Excellent. Thank you so much for providing insight for your organization today. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to leave our listeners?

 

Emily Barnes  18:16

Yeah, so I would just like to say a word about ally ship, the work that we do, relies very heavily also on allies, it's a lot harder to make change, when only marginalized voices are speaking how movements really grow, when allies are involved, too. So that's, you know, why I'm, you know, this was kind of talking about also why it's important to partner with companies or, you know, fields that aren't necessarily thought of as queer friendly, because they're our allies in there. And, you know, they're the ones that are conducive of making change and within that field.

 

Jerome James  18:56

And that's a great last thought to leave it at. Thank you so much, Emily, for a terrific conversation, and helping to shed some much needed light on the complexities of diversity, equity and inclusion within the engineering field.

 

Emily Barnes  19:12

Thank you so much for having me on. I don't know since the time since the time to plug how I can be reached or anything like that. Absolutely. Go for it. Okay, so yeah, we can, you know, if there are any questions or anything about the stuff that we do, we can be reached anytime at info at engiqueers.ca. You know, we also have our website enginqueers.ca, or Instagram, at engiqueers, Canada, we can be reached through any of those channels. And, you know, we're happy to discuss ways we can work together. Terrific.

 

Jerome James  19:46

Once again, we've been speaking with Emily Barnes, president of Engiqueers Canada. Thank you for listening. Our podcast is available on YouTube as well as your favorite podcast app. So please be sure to subscribe. and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you. I'm your host, Jerome James. You've been listening to Engineering the Future, and we'll see you next time.

 

Female Voice  20:12

From all of us at OSPE, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, thanks for listening. Please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.