Year: 2022
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Shawna Estis is a First Nations worker who belongs to the Little Grand Rapids First Nation in northern Manitoba. She was raised by her mother in Edmonton’s mainstream community, where she had little exposure to her Cree heritage though her mother spoke the language. After graduating from school, she worked in various positions in the service industry, beginning with a number of retail stores, and then for the insurance company with which she was employed at the time of her interview. She recounts one case in which she and a fellow worker were denied pay, including considerable overtime, when the owners of a clothing store declared bankruptcy. The Employment Standards Branch failed to help them recoup lost pay. It was in benefit administration with an insurance company at the University of Alberta that she began to gain a greater appreciation of her Indigenous background.
Keywords: Bankruptcy; Cree; Employment Standards; First Nations; Insurance work; Retail work; Unpaid time
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See also: Indigenous Labour in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta