Carla St. Louis is the Director of Marketing and Indigenous Affairs for Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO). Over the past 36 years Carla’s work have focused on improving lives of Indigenous people and she has work with Indigenous communities and organizations across Ontario and throughout Nunavut. Prior to moving to Ontario in 2005 Carla’s lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut as an Employment Counsellor with Human Resources Development Canada and the Manager of the Labour Market Development Agreement with the Department of Education, Government of Nunavut. Her expertise’s are in apprenticeship, delivery of employment and training programs, counselling, program design and development, program standards and evaluation and building new partnerships among Indigenous communities. In her present role with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 and OETIO Carla believes that recruitment, retention and advancement of Indigenous people is a positive approach to supporting a “Made in Canada” solution to close the skills gap for the heavy equipment and crane industry. Her focus is on training Indigenous people through pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs to employment couple with the recruitment of experience Indigenous heavy equipment and crane operators.