“The ‘why’ for me in this position is truly the positive impact that I can make, and I'm making, towards building these positive relationships with communities,” said Shilah D., a senior advisor on the Environmental Programs & Assessments Indigenous Relations (EPA-IR) team at Metrolinx. 

Shilah, a proud Anishinaabekwe from Mnjikaning First Nation, also known as Chippewas of Rama First Nation, is a trained Environmental Technician and Fish and Wildlife Technician with a degree in Conservation Biology.  

Focusing primarily on Metrolinx’s Subways programs, she collaborates with project teams and works with different Indigenous communities in Ontario. 

“Metrolinx has a lot of projects that are being built on traditional territories of many Indigenous communities,” said Shilah. In her role, Shilah looks at project impacts and will suggest alternatives, mitigations and – if they are unavoidable – ways that the environmental impacts can be offset for the communities.  

“I come in with an environmental lens, as well as an Indigenous lens,” said Shilah. 

Day to day, she supports the development of presentations for community meetings and reviews correspondence to communities about topics like project updates, archeological work and species-at-risk surveys, making sure that the information presented is clear, transparent and highlights the key pieces of information that would be of interest to the communities.  

Shilah also brings subject-matter expertise to project meetings as well as community engagement and consultation activities.  

“We work with a lot of different Indigenous communities, but that doesn't mean that every time we meet with a community it's the same,” said Shilah. “It really comes down to relationship building to fully understand the communities’ priorities, interests, perspectives and concerns.”

“I am passionate about working towards helping build positive relationships with the communities and really trying to prioritize the voices of the communities that we work with,” said Shilah.   

The Metrolinx senior advisor finds great gratification in her work, not least because one of the communities she works with is her own. “I can be a role model for the youth in my community to pursue higher education and pursue these types of educational pathways and careers,” said Shilah.  

“I'm just over eight months now in this position and I couldn't be happier,” said Shilah. “I just love the different opportunities that I get to have and the different experiences that I've been able to gain and am excited to see what's to come in the future.” 

Learn more about careers at Metrolinx.