Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 59
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( 2025 ) SPONSOR CONTENT
Diversity can have very personal meaning at StandardAero
J
eff Poirier was already the
leader of StandardAero Ltd.’s
substantial aircraft-engine
repair operation in
Summerside, P.E.I., when
he learned first-hand about his
company’s diversity commitment
to people with disabilities – he
suddenly became one. A freak
accident in 2022 in an all-terrain
vehicle, unrelated to his work,
left him paralyzed from the chest
down and facing a long and painful
journey back over some 18 months.
“From the beginning, they’ve
always said, ‘hey, we like to
grow our people, we want to
see you progress and
get ahead.’”
— Caroline Sicat
Senior Learning
and Development Specialist
But Poirier, vice-president and
general manager of a unit maintaining turboprop engines for regional
and corporate aircraft, did not have
to give up his job as head of one of
the largest employers in P.E.I. and a
part of the global aircraft maintenance company headquartered in
Scottsdale, Ariz. “The executive team
at StandardAero continued to check
in on me on a very frequent basis to
make sure that I was getting along
well,” says Poirier. “They continued
to remind me that they wanted me
back and my position was there. And
when I became ready to start back,
they allowed me to choose the pace
at which I wanted to return. There
was never any pressure on me.”
Poirier now uses a motorized
wheelchair to get around and, with
sensation having returned to his
arms, is able to operate a computer.
But his headquarters started in
the 1950s as a less-than-accessible
military hangar, so the company
further retrofitted it and provided
the assistive devices he needed. And
not because he was the boss – any
employee would have received such
support, Poirier says. “I was the first
employee to use a wheelchair.”
In fact, support for diversity,
equity and inclusion is a big part
of StandardAero operations in
multicultural Summerside. “It’s
talked about at every session and
has cascaded well through the
organization,” says Poirier. It’s a
male-dominated industry, he notes,
so the company does considerable
mentoring of female employees.
Summerside also has an employee
relations committee where staff can
raise issues to management. Poirier
himself has addressed staff about
his own dramatic situation, and
also speaks to outside groups about
disability.
Poirier’s unit is known as a centre
of excellence, employing more
than 500 people with additional
locations in the U.S., France, South
Africa, Singapore and Australia. The
company’s other Canadian centre of
excellence is a network of facilities in
Winnipeg, where the original company was founded in 1911 as Standard
Machine Works.
That’s where Caroline Sicat, a senior learning and development specialist, carries out training for people
working on the repair and overhaul
of gas turbine engines. “Culture-wise,
the company is really fantastic,” she
Jeff Poirier, vice-president and general manager for Turbo Props
Airlines & Fleets at StandardAero.
says. “It’s a very inclusive and diverse
organization.”
In fact, having done a brief stint
at StandardAero following college
graduation, Sicat chose to return
after eight years working for an
airline that moved its operations
away. “There’s a reason why I wanted
to come back,” she says. “When I
first started, they treated me very,
very well. And from the beginning,
they’ve always said, ‘hey, we like to
grow our people, we want to see you
progress and get ahead.’”
Sicat is closely involved with a
program that partners with the
43
early career summer interns hired
Manitoba Institute for Trades and
Technology and provincial and
industry agencies to train 15 women
annually from diverse backgrounds
for entry-level careers in aerospace.
In the past two years, StandardAero
has hired 96 per cent of the
graduates.
Sicat also works with Girls in
Aviation and the in-house Women
in Aerospace group, and, like Poirier,
often speaks to community groups.
“It’s great to be part of something
that I’m really passionate about,”
says Sicat, “especially when it comes
to diversity.” ¢
$
1,500
mental health practitioner benefit
