2 female Inuit pilots made history flying together. They hope it's a start
CBC
Melissa Haney and Zoe Kroonenburg have flown from Montreal to Puvirnituq, in the northern Quebec region of Nunavik, hundreds of times.
But Tuesday's two-and-a-half-hour cargo flight, with Haney as the captain and Kroonenburg as first officer aboard the Air Inuit Boeing 737, felt different.
It was the first time either of them had flown alongside someone who looked like them.
"Representation does matter," said Haney.
"It's something that I've been waiting for for a long time — to have two female Inuit pilots up front. So I was excited for this day to come."
It took 20 years for Haney.
When she started flying in 2004 for Air Inuit, Haney was the only female Inuk pilot — and the first ever female Air Inuit captain. Now, there are four female Inuit pilots among the 220 pilots working for the airline.
"Throughout the years, others have come and gone, but this is the most we've ever been in the company at the same time. And there's always been Inuit pilots, just not female," said Haney.
"If we look at pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, air traffic controllers, all these jobs in aviation, they have very little women representation … I think it takes a long time to get the wheel spinning, but it is getting there slowly."
Sharing news of their career milestone online, Haney and Kroonenburg were flooded with messages of support as they highlighted the need to recruit more Inuit and women to a profession they say can be difficult to break into for people from northern communities.
Haney, from Inukjuak, Nunavik, first fell in love with aviation after becoming a flight attendant in 2001 and meeting Inuit pilots on the job.
"Seeing somebody who looks like you and is like you is important to push you along and get into a career that you want to have," said Haney.
"We strive to have as many Inuit working for the airline and the pilot position is one of them."
Before becoming a pilot in 2019, Kroonenburg, who is from Kuujjuarapik, Nunavik, became a flight attendant through the Sparrow program, an Air Inuit initiative to help guide Inuit candidates to become pilots.
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons — suggesting that its green upholstery is meant to symbolize the fields of the English countryside where commoners met centuries ago before the signing of the Magna Carta.