Thought Leadership

Melissa Hardy-Giles, President and CEO of ORIGIN, shares her Indigenous perspective on everything related to economic reconciliation, career exploration and Indigenous cultural education for youth and adults alike.

Learn more about what inspires Melissa every day and how the team at ORIGIN works towards our mission of advancing economic reconciliation.

October 1, 2024 The Sharing Circle

Integrating Indigenous Culture into Education

Decolonizing the classroom and moving towards reconciliation September 30th, better known, as Orange Shirt Day, signifies a time to reflect on the dark history of Residential Schools in Canada. It is important that our non-Indigenous neighbors take the time to sit, discuss and sincerely educate themselves on real truths. Stories you hear may be shocking. […]

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August 12, 2024 The Sharing Circle

Power of Technology in the Classroom

Technology is continuing to find integration into every aspect of our lives. This includes our classrooms. Recently our team visited an elementary school where we ran our ImmersiveLink 7 Career Ethics workshop. This made me realize how times are changing. Today, I’m going to share some insights I’ve picked up from this experience. I’ll be […]

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May 14, 2024 The Sharing Circle

Economic Reconciliation and Culture in the Workplace

While economic reconciliation is only a portion of the overall reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada, it is an important piece of the puzzle. Not only for its economic impacts but also giving back power to Indigenous communities. Defined by Reconciliation Canada, “economic reconciliation aims to create meaningful partnerships and mutually beneficial opportunities […]

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April 2, 2024 The Sharing Circle

Empowering Indigenous Futures

Unleashing Potential through the Wake the Warrior Program’s Holistic Journey to Career Mastery From Indigenous engagement services to recruiting to training, I have had many experiences engaging with communities and their members in some work-related capacity. With these years of experience, there were things I noticed that were consistent across communities that I visited and […]

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December 13, 2023 The Sharing Circle

Exploring the Intersection: Personality Dimensions and the Medicine Wheel

Everyone’s personality is made up of unique traits and characteristics formed by their environment, friends, family, experiences, and culture. While it may seem like we are all so different, it’s been proven that certain personality types will present certain strengths and features over others. Understanding the different personality dimensions can assist you in building better […]

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November 9, 2023 The Sharing Circle

Fostering Reconciliation through Treaty Relationships

In 2016, Ontario passed the first legislation of its kind in Canada declaring the first full week of November as Treaties Recognition Week. This annual event honours the importance of treaties and supports our reconciliation journey that is aided by learning more about treaty rights and relationships. By learning more about our collective treaty rights […]

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September 30, 2023 The Sharing Circle

Reflecting on National Truth and Reconciliation Day

This story is new for some, new for far too many. Yet, familiar, for some. Familiar, for far too many. In June of 2021, September 30th was marked as a federal statutory holiday from Parliament and deemed as the “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation”. This day is commonly known as Orange Shirt Day. Orange […]

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