For the first 13 years of her career in the mining industry, Jocelyn Peltier-Huntley, a professional mechanical engineer, was often the only woman in the room. This stark reality sparked her growing awareness of the industry’s lack of diversity. According to “The Mining Story 2024: Canadian Mining Industry Facts and Figures,” a report released in June by the Mining Association of Canada, despite gradual progress over the last few years, women still make up less than 20 per cent of the workforce across all mining-related sectors. Canada’s most recent census data also revealed that women’s representation in mining has increased from 2011 to 2021, but women remain underrepresented at all stages of the mining process.

This ongoing gender disparity became a catalyst for Peltier-Huntley’s post-secondary research on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

As she completed her master’s degree, Peltier-Huntley was drawn to a 2020 research call from the International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII), a non-profit organization funded by both the mining industry and  Saskatchewan government. The IMII sought research on EDI, prompting Peltier-Huntley to submit a proposal focused on interviewing equity champions and change agents, while testing solutions with students and the mining industry, which was accepted. This ultimately inspired her to create Active Allies, a short course designed to help mining professionals develop allyship skills and deepen their understanding of EDI.

Developing the course

In 2020, she continued her research on EDI as part of her four-year interdisciplinary studies PhD project. In 2022, as part of her PhD research, Peltier-Huntley was supported by Rosa Moazed, a PhD student, to develop a four-week-long trial version of the Active Allies course, which was first held at the University of Saskatchewan’s engineering college. In total, over 100 people participated in the course, including a mix of students and those working in Canada’s mining industry. Feedback from these participants helped to shape the course materials used for Active Allies.

During development, an advisory board and several individuals who participated in the early research phases of the PhD project helped contribute to shaping and reviewing the content. If gaps in the learning material were identified, new resources were added to address them. After wrapping up the project and receiving feedback from participants, Peltier-Huntley officially offered the first cohort of the Active Allies course through her EDI consulting company, Prairie Catalyst, in September. Peltier-Huntley is the main facilitator of Active Allies and Moazed is featured as a course facilitator throughout the online modules that the two created together during 2022.

Peltier-Huntley explained that due to her PhD funding arrangement, she negotiated an agreement with the IMII to continue offering the course through Prairie Catalyst Consulting going forward.

“I believe this indicates that the IMII and its members saw value in the course and wanted to see it continue on past the research phase,” she said in an email to CIM Magazine.

The format of the course closely mirrors the version she tested during her PhD research, but it is now offered over six weeks instead of four. She believes that EDI training is more effective when spread out over an extended period, rather than in a condensed format, such as half-day workshops.

“I don’t know if you would get people changing their behaviour and their way of thinking [as much] if it was done in a more concentrated period,” she said in an interview with CIM Magazine. “I think some of the beauty of it is introducing ideas, and then people start to become aware of things [over time], and then they start maybe thinking and acting differently.”

The course is comprised of online modules lasting around 30 minutes each, followed by an hour-long weekly group

discussion, where participants are encouraged to ask questions, work through concepts related to EDI and reflect on how they could apply the skills they learn to real-life situations.

According to Peltier-Huntley, these group discussions are designed to create a safe space for open dialogue, focusing on understanding rather than blaming or shaming, which she believes is the most effective way to drive change.

“As an engineer, I try to be really practical about how we teach people so they can actually do these things, so it’s not just an abstract idea,” she said.

Cultivating allyship

The course examines allyship in support of five equity-deserving groups: women, Indigenous people, racialized individuals, people with disabilities, and those who identify as part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

The course is structured so that the first half focuses on helping participants understand the challenges present in mining workplaces and Canadian society, including policies, laws and systems that may fail to support inclusivity.

“One of the activities that’s really impactful for people is looking at human rights timelines for those five different groups and understanding how recent some of the changes have been,” she said.

One of these timelines involved looking at when different groups were granted the right to vote in Canada. Peltier-Huntley explained in an email to CIM Magazine that the Persons case opened the door for white women to vote in 1918, with some visible minorities gaining or re-gaining their right to vote in 1949 (some individuals had lost these rights during the Second World War). Indigenous people were the last to gain the right to vote in 1960.

The second part of the course deals with skills development, highlighting three key abilities every ally should develop or improve: active listening, being an engaged bystander and learning how to offer a genuine apology.

Peltier-Huntley emphasized the importance of applying allyship skills, noting that data from her PhD research revealed that participants felt significantly more confident discussing EDI in their workplaces after completing the course. They also reported having more frequent conversations on the topic, indicating a positive shift in behaviour.

“I learned through the PhD research that people from underrepresented groups also got a lot out of the course content, understanding some of these patterns around bias and discrimination, harassment and systems that we all live in and operate in,” she said. “If they had encountered previous instances of, say, workplace trauma or toxic work environments, it helped them to understand that they weren’t the problem.”

She also stressed the vital role of leaders in fostering an inclusive workplace and believes that leaders are not only allies to those they supervise but they also shape workplace culture by setting the tone for the environment.

Participant experience

Tyrel Lloyd, a senior water resources engineer at NewFields, an engineering consulting firm with an office in Saskatoon, decided to enrol in the course to better understand the lived experiences of equity-deserving groups and learn more about how to expand his allyship.

Lloyd was part of the first cohort of Active Allies offered through Prairie Catalyst, which had a class size of three participants.

“I think there were quite a few things that opened my eyes,” he said in an interview with CIM Magazine. “Throughout the course, Jocelyn presents data that supports the need for allyship. As an engineer, I like to see numbers and [I have] an appreciation for graphs that show information about representation within professions and other information related to how biases form.”

Lloyd found the course’s discussions especially insightful, as he believes that conversations between participants play a key role in fostering allyship and inclusion.

“I think it’s through hearing other people’s stories that we [gain] a better understanding or a stronger appreciation of what others have been through,” he said.

Looking ahead

In 2025, the course will be offered in January, May and October, with the possibility of adding additional dates. To accommodate people’s schedules, Peltier-Huntley has also developed live workshop formats of the course, along with a workbook for those who may not have access to online course content. She has structured the course content into a six-hour workshop, divided into four sessions. This year, 32 participants have already engaged in the workshop format.

To date, 105 people have taken the Active Allies course. She explained that while the ideal group discussion size is no more than six people, she anticipates that class sizes could eventually grow to between 20 and 60 per cohort, with the support of additional instructors.

Those interested in participating in Active Allies can sign up here.