Paving the Way With Frontline Training on the History of Indigenous Peoples

Sodexo Canada has a long-standing relationship with Indigenous communities in Canada. We believe that the key to fostering reconciliation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples and reshaping a better future together is through education and awareness of Indigenous history and perspectives.  

That's why we are providing educational training on the history of Indigenous Peoples to all Sodexo Canada employees with a curriculum developed in collaboration with Reconciliation Education and the First Nations University of Canada.

As of December 2021, over 91% of our salaried employees have taken the Indigenous Peoples of Canada: History, Culture and Reconciliation training, which provides an awareness of what First Nations, Métis and Inuit people have experienced and are still experiencing today.  

We are pleased to announce that this training has been adapted into a shorter format and is available to all Sodexo Canada frontline employees as of June 1, 2022. 
 

An Accessible Workshop 

The new workshop, titled Road to Reconciliation, is the result of six months of collaborative efforts. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) and Employee Experience teams worked with Reconciliation Education to provide frontline employees with a series of bite-size and interactive training sessions to be led by team leaders and managers.

The workshop is divided into five modules, each covering an important theme related to reconciliation in Canada, such as respectful terminology, the residential school system, Indigenous contributions and our role as Canadians.

These modules are designed to be brief, interactive and easy for team leaders to present. Each 20-minute training session includes:

• 3-5-minute videos
• Key takeaways
• Discussion topics and quizzes

 

Upon completion of the fifth module, employees receive a certificate of achievement, as well as a series of next steps and resources for continued individual learning.

 

An Innovating Approach

Given the sheer number of Sodexo Canada’s frontline employees, it was imperative for the DE&I and Employee Experience teams to provide an adaptive training for the field — something short yet impactful that could be workshopped in groups. It was a true collaborative experience with Reconciliation Education. 

Our teams understood the clientele and the nature of the work on the field and knew what type of format would be successful. The approach was to take the original 2.5-hour training — Indigenous Peoples of Canada: History, Culture and Reconciliation — and extract the major themes and content pieces into shorter videos, accompanied by relevant discussion topics to further the conversation. Reconciliation Education then developed the material, extracting key elements from the larger training modules.

This workshop model is the first to be developed by our partner.

Andrée Cazabon, Director - Reconciliation Education, says:

We are pleased with the result of our partnership with Sodexo Canada in developing this workshop. They are pioneers in their approach to frontline employee training. The workshop format we developed together is innovative and has expanded our roster of materials and tools for other organizations now looking to offer the '4 Seasons of Reconciliation' course to their frontline teams.

To achieve true reconciliation, Sodexo Canada believes it is important to look at our past, acknowledge our mistakes and work in partnership with Indigenous communities in Canada. Education is undoubtedly our best tool to achieve this.

Learn more about our journey to truth and reconciliation in Sodexo Canada’s first-ever Indigenous Report.