ROCANVILLE - Taniesha Edwards of Rocanville has had a passion for electrical engineering since she was in high school.
For seven years now, Edwards has been working at Nutrien, the largest producer of potash and the third largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the world, where she currently works as an automation technologist.
“It was the electronics class my high school offered which I took, and I loved it. Even before that, my dad worked at Future Shop and as a child I felt like that made me a tech nerd. Electronics is what drew me into the electrical engineering technology program at Red River College,” she said.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Edwards moved to Southeast Saskatchewan in 2014 to pursue her career.
“After I didn’t get hired at Manitoba Hydro, I was just looking because I needed to complete my work term for school and Nutrien was suggested,” Edwards said.
“I said yes to applying, having no idea where or what Rocanville was. After learning it was a potash mine, I imagined it to be some far remote area of Saskatchewan if they had mines there, not realizing it was only three and a half hours from Winnipeg.”
“So I came here, went for the interview and once I actually went underground, I was so amazed. It’s honestly the coolest thing. I didn’t expect it to be so huge down there. I thought it would have train tracks transferring the materials like on the Bugs Bunny cartoon where they drive the handcar, but that’s definitely not what it’s like.”
“I love the variety of responsibilities I have had over the years while working in the maintenance department, and now on the automation team.”
Edwards said her knowledge about the field of potash mining has grown and she continues to learn something new every day.
Yet being in a male dominated field, Edwards said working at Nutrien has presented her with countless opportunities to vocalize her own knowledge and personal experience, of being a minority.
“I’m mixed, but I would also identify myself as both black and white. Within Nutrien I’m one of the Black Employee Resource Group (BERG) leads, along with three other leaders. The group is North American based so I’m the only one in rural Saskatchewan, the rest are in the States,” Edwards said.
She said that even though the demographic of Black people is higher in the States than it is in Rocanville, the number of Black employees is still minimal in the field of potash mining.
“Mining in North America is currently a white-male dominated industry, including here at Rocanville. If we look at some of our other locations, where they have a larger population of Black people, they still struggle to have an equally represented percentage of Black employees at those sites,” she said.
“Locally, we don’t have a large Black population. So, when you compare it to our site demographic, it matches more until we start to consider the surrounding cities that our talent pool is pulled from.”
“I think along with the work to improve our visible minority demographic, there is also a talented pool of women that we’re missing out on.”
In addition to being a Black employee resource group lead, Edwards is also a part of the Women in Non-Traditional Environments and Roles (WiNTER) resource group within the company.
By promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the company, Nutrien focuses on offering these groups to help create an equitable, diverse and inclusive organization.
“I recently transitioned out of my term as one of the site leads for WiNTER. The group advocates to increase inclusion within site culture to normalize women in non-traditional roles.”
She said at Rocanville’s mine site, there are more than 60 women who could be considered a member of WiNTER, which equals to only about seven per cent of the site’s population.
“Along with Rocanville, we have WiNTER members at our other potash sites closer to Saskatoon and Picadilly, NB,” said Edwards.
She said working as a woman in the field is exciting and as a member of WiNTER in Nutrien, Edwards said she has a platform to help enlighten young girls and women, about career opportunities in potash mining.
“Also being part of the youth outreach group that I’m in, gets me thinking of what kind of work I can do here,” she said.
“There’s so many young girls in the surrounding communities that might not know that this is a career option for them.”
“It seems like lots of the girls think that they’re going to be a nurse or a teacher. I’m hoping with these different events, that where we’re educating the diverse and minority groups. That we can help and empower them, so that they can benefit from opportunities that the majority groups typically get,” Edwards said.
“Celebrating Black History Month or International Women’s Day next month, gives us an opportunity to take some time to learn as a collective, on the struggles and difficulties these minority groups have.”
“I hope it will enlighten people so that it’s not just a Black female telling them that we’re struggling, but where they actually understand and work alongside, as our allies.”
Edwards said Nutrien advocating for equity, diversity and inclusion in the workforce, and having its EDI group led by Leslie Coleman, has helped minorities, like herself, feel more supported.
“It’s added an extra focus on EDI, we didn’t have a dedicated group before, but now, it involves a full team as extra spokespeople for us.”
Last year, Edwards said Nutrien celebrated International Women’s Day and National Indigenous History Month. This year the company added Black History Month to the list.
“We did an International Women’s Day event last year, and that was awesome to be a part of. With the fire power that we have now, what we were able to create for this month was amazing.”
“It honestly helps show how important it is for the company to support their people because it only is going to benefit everyone when we focus on DEI,” said Edwards.
Although Nutrien has made it a priority to support and make minorities feel more included within the company, Edwards said conversations about inclusivity are still challenging in the field.
“It’s been hard, because there’s a lot of people who support it, and then there’s some that don’t see the need for EDI,” she said.
“As much as there is a lot of people embracing it and it’s super exciting to see that support and interest growing within the company, it can also be exhausting at those other times.”
“It’s very uncomfortable, especially as a minority in the room, to know that talking about EDI and personal experiences, can be received negatively.”
“I think everyone does struggle with having difficult conversations, I will avoid them sometimes because no one wants to be uncomfortable, but that’s where the growth is,” said Edwards.
“So yes, I very much encourage these uncomfortable conversations because I don’t see anyone learning unless you are a little uncomfortable. When I’m able to be vulnerable and share the feelings and experiences I have had as a minority, by all means I will.”
Edwards said through her job, she hopes to educate and enlighten people, while working to diversify the workplace demographic through difficult conversations and fun activities. She hopes that everyone can understand where an individual is coming from and join along for the journey.
