Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada

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Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada

The Indigenous Professional Association of Canada is an association for Indigenous professionals within the Greater Toronto Region and across Canada.

09/02/2026

Six new postings went up on the IPAC Job Board this week, and there is some serious range in this batch.

The City of Toronto is hiring a Director for its Indigenous Affairs Office, and the Government of Nunavut is looking for an Assistant Deputy Minister of Operations in Iqaluit. University of Manitoba has an open rank Indigenous Scholar position in Winnipeg, so applicants at any career stage from Assistant to Full Professor can apply.

The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation is hiring a Program Director for Environment in Toronto. CMHA York Region posted two more: a System's Analyst in Newmarket and a part time Mental Health Intake Specialist in Vaughan.

Everything currently live is here: https://indigenousprofessionals.org/career-posts/

Direct links to each posting are in the comments. Know someone who would be a fit? Tag them.

09/01/2026

We went looking for the original names of all five Great Lakes.

Ontario is Wendat, from Ontari'io. Michigan is Ojibwe, from mishigami, the large lake. Erie is a shortened form of Erielhonan, the Erie nation's own name for themselves. Three of the five names sitting on that map right now came out of Indigenous languages.

The other two are French. Superior is lac supérieur, the upper lake, which the Anishinaabe have always called Gichigami. Huron comes from a French word about rough hair and it was meant as an insult. The people it was aimed at are the Wendat. Same nation that named Ontari'io.

Here is the part worth sitting with. Not one of those five names came from a government. They came from languages that were here first and are still spoken.

08/27/2026

Lake Ontario is a Wendat name.

Ontari'io. Depending on who you ask it means the lake is beautiful and the lake is big, or great lake, or lake of shining waters. It has been in use for more than 400 years, which puts it well ahead of Confederation and well ahead of the Declaration of Independence.

Everything around it got named second. The province. The ports. The shipping lanes.

Today the U.S. signed an executive order directing American federal agencies to call it Lake America.

Here is the part worth sitting with. Canada did not name this lake either. The name was already here, in a language that was already here, spoken by people who are still here. That is not a Canadian talking point and it is not an American one.

It is Ontari'io. It always was.

08/26/2026

Six new postings went up on the IPAC Job Board this week.

CMHA York Region is hiring a Case Manager and an Addictions Counsellor, both in Vaughan. BC Hydro has a Power Line Technician Pre-Apprentice opening in Surrey with an April 2027 start, which is a solid entry point if you know someone looking at the trades.

On the leadership side, Nipissing University is looking for a Director of their Community Planning Program in North Bay, the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee needs an Executive Director in Vancouver, and Georgian College is hiring a Director of Indigenous Strategies in Barrie.

All six postings, plus everything else currently live, are here: https://indigenousprofessionals.org/career-posts/

Direct links to each one are in the comments. Know someone who would be a fit? Tag them.

08/19/2026

A lot of you messaged after the last post asking how to actually get the $99,999. Fair question, and the answer isn't laid out in one place anywhere online.

It works as an equity contribution inside a financing package, and at most institutions it isn't available on its own. You bring roughly 10 percent in cash. The contribution covers up to about 40 percent of eligible capital costs. A loan from the same institution covers the rest.

Which means on a $100,000 project you're looking at somewhere near $40,000. To reach the full amount your project needs to be worth around a quarter of a million.

Knowing that before you walk in is the difference between a productive first meeting and a confusing one.

Swipe for the three steps, the documents they'll ask you for, and the one mistake that disqualifies people before they start.

We put this together because our members kept asking. If you want funding and procurement information landing in front of you instead of hunting for it, join IPAC here: https://indigenousprofessionals.org/membership-form

Tag someone who's been sitting on a business idea waiting for the right moment.

08/17/2026

New week, new listings on the IPAC Job Board:

📌 Job Design Advisor, The City of Thunder Bay (Thunder Bay, ON)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/job-design-advisor/

📌 Assistant or Associate Professor, K-12 School Leadership, University of Calgary (Calgary, AB)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/assistant-or-associate-professor-in-k-12-school-leadership/

📌 Finance Manager, Gakino'amaage: Teach For Canada (Toronto, ON)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/finance-manager-2/

📌 Assistant Professor, Architecture, Laurentian University (Sudbury, ON)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/assistant-professor-position-in-architecture-poste-de-professeure-adjointe-en-architecture/

📌 Associate Director, Philanthropy and Planned Giving, Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/associate-director-philanthropy-and-planned-giving/

📌 Director, Indigenous Relations, Waterfront Toronto (Toronto, ON)
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/job/director-indigenous-relations-4/

Dozens more on the board. Know someone who fits one of these? Tag them or send it along.

08/13/2026

Up to $99,999 in funding you don't pay back. And no form to fill out online.

Access to Capital is federal money, but it moves through Indigenous Financial Institutions instead of a government website. That's why almost nobody knows it exists. No deadline either. It runs all year.

Swipe through for who to call, what they'll ask you for, and the one detail that costs people money when they miss it.

Tag someone who's been funding their business off their own line of credit for longer than they should have.

Sign up to become a member today 👇
https://indigenousprofessionals.org/membership-form

08/11/2026

Recognizing Excellence 🪶

Naiomi Walqwan Metallic, KC, is a member of Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation and the first Mi'gmaq person to clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada. Since 2016 she has held the Chancellor's Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy at Dalhousie's Schulich School of Law, where her research digs into a hard truth: when governments argue over who is responsible, Indigenous communities are the ones who go without.

She was named the 2026 Indspire Laureate for Law & Justice this past May, an honour she received in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) in front of family, students, and colleagues.

Congratulations, Naiomi. 👏

07/30/2026

$1.04 billion went to Indigenous businesses through federal contracts last year. Roughly 2,700 businesses are on the list that money came from.

Registering is free. No minimum size, no sector limits, anywhere in Canada.

Steps are in the carousel. Share it with someone who should be on that list.

Two things I cut and why, in case you want them back.

The April 2027 reform note is the most useful thing in the long version, but it's inside baseball. It stays on LinkedIn where the procurement people are, and it's already on slide 8 for everyone else.

07/29/2026

New week, new postings on the IPAC Job Board. Six roles up right now, spread across the country and one that can be done from anywhere in Canada.

Registered Nurses, Hay River Health & Social Services Authority (Hay River, NT)
City Solicitor, The City of Thunder Bay (Thunder Bay, ON)
First Nations/Métis/Inuit Trust Associate, Scotiabank (Calgary, AB)
Program & Relationship Manager, Centre for Indigenous Corporate Partnership (Anywhere, Canada)
Provost and Vice-President, Academic, University of Guelph (Guelph, ON)
Indigenous Cultural Coordinator, University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, MB)

Everything from clinical work to senior academic leadership. Have a look, and pass it along to someone who should see it.

Full listings on the IPAC Job Board: indigenousprofessionals.org

Address

191 Gerrard Street E
Toronto, ON
M5A2E5

Website

http://www.indigenousprofessionals.org/

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