Paige Clarke (Year 3 MinE) talks about her educational path.
Paige Clarke moved from the small town of Kirkland Lake, Ont., to Canada’s largest metropolis to attend university. Now, as she prepares to start her Professional Experience Year (PEY), she’s looking forward to living in an area with a strong native presence reminiscent of her hometown, where she grew up with the Beaverhouse First Nation and Matachewan First Nation communities nearby.
“I grew up with a basic knowledge of Indigenous cultures and Indigenous thought, but I really wanted to expand my knowledge on the subject,” says Clarke. “Indigenous communities value land as more than just the ground that we stand on. It’s the water and the wind and the trees and the birds. The land is everything.”
It was this understanding that led Clarke to pursue a degree in the Lassonde Mineral Engineering Program (MinE) with a minor in Aboriginal Studies.
The choice to enter mineral engineering came from the flexibility of location; Kirkland Lake is one of Ontario’s leading mining communities, which would allow Clarke to move home in the future.
“Most people in northern Ontario don’t leave northern Ontario – they go to northern schools. I decided I was going to leave Kirkland Lake. There was no one else from home when I came here,” says Clarke. In the end, MinE was perfect. Her small, tight-knit class was exactly what Clarke needed to get her through the transition from rural to urban living.
Clarke notes that her choice to pursue a minor in Aboriginal Studies has led to a heavier course load than some of her peers, but the effort is worthwhile – many mines exist in areas of significance to Indigenous communities. Clarke believes that while civil and mineral engineers focus on land work and use, they should be just as diligent in working with Indigenous communities, who know the land better than anyone.
Her dual focus gives her an edge among her peers. When interviewing with Vale in Thompson, MB, for her PEY placement, her minor in Aboriginal Studies was one of the first things her interviewer discussed. For Clarke, the social aspects of a project are always at the forefront of her mind and are often the first thing she thinks about when looking at any problem. She believes that social and technical facets go hand in hand.
“I think that my Aboriginal Studies minor is not just a social responsibility to understand the views of the peoples of the land who we’re going to be mining, but also an environmental responsibility because so much of their traditional knowledge is about having balance.” This keeps her motivated to pursue both an engineering major and arts minor.