Alumnus helping meeting TRC Calls to Action

By Greg Campbell Posted: July 26, 2019 9:30 a.m.

Denis Carignan is managing director of PLATO Sask Testing and president of PLATO Testing. Photo: U of R Photography

Denis Carignan BA'93 has brought his very successful Indigenous software testing training model to Saskatchewan. The University of Regina graduate is the managing director of PLATO Sask Testing and president of PLATO Testing, a firm that is training and employing Indigenous Canadians across the country. The company boasts more than 70 full-time Indigenous software testers in such locations as Fredericton, Miramichi, Vancouver, Calgary, Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto, Edmonton and soon Regina. The goal of the company is to employ 1,000 Indigenous software testers in 20 communities across Canada by 2025.

Now, a group of 14 individuals currently undertaking training at the College Avenue Campus hope to be added to the list of full-time employees. Those who successfully complete the 15-week training will provide much-needed skilled workers to Canada's IT sector - estimated to have a 200,000 worker shortfall. At the same time, Carignan and his colleagues are meeting some of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action and giving more Indigenous Canadians meaningful employment.

PLATO Sask Testing, the only dedicated software testing company in Saskatchewan, was made possible through a partnership agreement between PQA Testing, File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council and FHQ Development.

To learn more about Carignan and PLATO Testing, read the story in the Spring/Fall issue of Degrees Magazine. You can find the story here.