Measure by Degrees

As a settler, I am learning how important it is to make space for Indigenous voices and to recognize the depth of knowledge that comes from culture and community. Katy Carson, a proud Métis woman and our Director of Organizational Relationships and Special Projects, and I often find ourselves having the same conversation with the Indigenous friends and colleagues we walk beside. We spend a lot of time encouraging them to pursue roles and opportunities they are more than ready for, even when they do not see it in themselves.

So many of the people we care about underestimate their brilliance. They overlook the value of their lived experience, their ancestral teachings, and the strength they bring into every space. Katy wrote today’s reflection with them in her heart, and I feel grateful to share her words.

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I’ve been sitting with the idea of “qualifications.” Who gets to decide what makes us qualified? A piece of paper? A degree? Or the years of experience, cultural connection, and lived wisdom that shape the way we move through the world and the work we do?

In my own journey, I’ve felt this tension deeply. I don’t hold a graduate degree—not yet, anyway. I’ve recently applied to a Master’s program as part of my own growth, but most of what I bring comes from a career built on hard work and strong connections in community and culture. Still, when I was job searching, I would often see postings that listed a Master’s degree as a “requirement.” Even when I knew I could do the role—and do it well—it felt like the door was already closed before I even reached it.

That’s the danger of gatekeeping through rigid qualifications: it makes people second-guess themselves. Do we apply for a job, knowing we don’t “tick all the boxes” but absolutely have the skills? Or do we hold back, not wanting to waste our time or be rejected for what we don’t have?

What’s interesting is that most job tasks can be taught. Systems, software, specific processes—those are learnable. But values aren’t. Values are lived. They’re shaped by culture, community, upbringing, and experience. You can train someone to do a job. You can’t train someone to care in the way a role truly requires. And yet those qualities rarely make it into the “requirements” list.

But here’s the bigger question: what do organizations miss out on when they overvalue formal education and undervalue lived experience? How much talent, wisdom, and creativity gets left behind because it didn’t come in the “expected” package?

At what point do we broader our understanding of what “qualified” means, and start asking a more honest question: what does this role truly require to be done well?

Because qualifications aren’t just about degrees—they’re also about resilience, relationship-building, culture, and the kind of insight that can’t be taught in a classroom.

Maybe the real question is: what brilliance are we overlooking when we fail to see that? It’s worth thinking about. Especially for those of us who have been told—implicitly or explicitly—that we shouldn’t bother trying.

Katy Carson, Métis

Katy’s reflections speak to something we see often. Systems built around formal credentials do not always recognize the knowledge that comes from community, culture, and lived experience. It is easy for Indigenous people to question themselves when the measures of success were never designed with them in mind.

If you are one of the people we gently encourage, the ones who hesitate to apply because you worry you do not meet every requirement, this post is for you. You carry wisdom that cannot be taught in a classroom. You bring perspective and strength that enrich every space you enter. You are already qualified in ways that go far beyond a list on a job posting.

We see it.We honour it.And we hope you keep stepping forward, even when doubt tries to hold you back.

🧡 Kim