Indigenous Community Involvement

Reconciliation Through Education

Before becoming an architect and owner, Heather Barnsley started her career as a high school teacher at Peepeekisis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her foundational values as an architect and business owner stem from these teaching experiences. At T.i. STUDIOS, one of our core missions is to empower through mentorship, knowledge, and education, both within our team and externally to clients and the community.
In 2023, Heather initiated discussions with a Saskatchewan Indigenous Nation to establish an internship program bringing Indigenous youth into our firm for summer terms. These talks highlighted a limited pool of Indigenous youth trained in architecture. Recognizing the root cause as a lack of exposure, discussions shifted to creating educational initiatives to introduce architectural careers to Indigenous youth.
Collaborating with industry and educational professionals, as well as Nation Band Members, we are developing a curriculum to be incorporated into Nation schools.