mental health technician

home visitor

registered nurse

policy analyst

crisis response specialist

Ontario Native Womens Association

I disliked working at this company immensely. The reasons are:

1. a coworker threatened violence, upper management promoted this individual to a manager and I was given a written warning.

2. Witnessed first hand, program staff lying about work they had done.

3. Received a written warning for discussing my salary with a co-worker.

4. Received a written warning for speaking with a former employee outside of work.

5. Demoralizing to see an ED making $175,000 while we work with the most marginalized, vulnerable people. This information is public on the Sunshine list. 

6. Extremely high turn around of staff. I do not believe you will find a former employee with a positive experience.

7. Former staff and ED were treated with immense disrespect. Individuals no longer with the organization were badmouthed, and their contributions were diminished. When the former ED was removed from her position it was done in a humiliating fashion, which was not necessary. Witnessing this made it very difficult to continue working for an organization that operates in such a dysfunctional way.

8. Putting a price on cultural teachings is against Anishnawbe worldview. We organized a conference was held in Toronto 2020 and tickets to attend were over $500, which did not include travel, accommodations or food. No client could ever afford to attend such an event. This amount is nearly the monthly income for a woman receiving welfare (which many clients are) It was sad to see women clients complain about being excluded from events that are supposedly done in their name.

What I learned:

Do not work for this organization.

The importance of a unionized environment.

The hardest part of my job:

Knowing the vast amount of funding this organization receives and how little goes back to clients.

It was difficult to work among people who lacked the necessary skills and background to do their jobs.

Positive aspects:

Very high salary for uneducated and inexperienced staff. Very general travel allowance which made me uncomfortable. I was working with very impoverished clients, advocating on their behalf, and I was receiving travel monies that were three times their yearly incomes. Totally unnecessary. Monies could be much better allocated to provide actual, practical support to clients.

Staff are awesome and go above and beyond to achieve the organizational vision and support Indigenous women across Ontario and Canada. Staff are always willing to support and help each other and work as a team.

Management are supportive of staff, quick to resolve issues, achieve solutions and work with staff to support Indigenous community members. Management is approachable, and work hard to ensure that deliverables are being met. Management often have competing priorities, but will, in most cases, set these aside to help staff resolve pressing issues.  

Workplace Culture: fast-paced, situations may arise that necessitate urgent and immediate responses and staff are often called upon to respond to urgent situations with relatively short notice. Staff should be self-starters, willing to take initiative, leadership skills are highly valued. 

Culture plays an integral in ONWA's work, staff are tasked with leading and facilitating culture-based activity within the community, staff must be comfortable with practicing culture and sharing their knowledge with community. 

Training, there are many opportunities for training offered to staff, staff are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for training, all-staff training is offered on an annual basis. Staff are always encouraged to approach their managers with training opportunities. Staff that have chosen to advance their education (returning to university/college) have been encouraged and supported by management.

Vacation, another perk of ONWA is the generous vacation and benefits package.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The many locations allow for transfers in Ontario.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working with a bunch of cry-babies who grab any and all opportunities to devalue co-workers.  This is the first job for many people and the don't understand the efforts required to better themselves.  They instead understand that complaining making them appear knowledgeable.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
dog eat dog environment for the inexperienced workers.  The company is generous but inexperienced workers unfortunately have not developed work ethics yet nor standards

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
very stressful working with inexperienced workers who spend more time complaining about work, than performing work.  Those are the same people who refuse to complete assigned tasks, yet complain thereafter that management is unfair.

Nepotism runs high in Community Development creating an untrusting work environment that stifles innovation and silences strong voices. When personal connections take precedence over merit, ONWA employees feel undervalued and hesitant to share their ideas, leading to a culture of conformity rather than creativity. This dynamic not only diminishes morale but also hinders the organization’s potential for growth and progress. Misuse of well-intended self help protocols to keep employees from questioning information and keeping employees accountable (the 4 agreements) impossible to make change or advance in career as a strong Indigenous Woman with no family connections in upper management. 

Terrible place to work.  Management are not qualified, but instead chosen based on their relationship with the Executive Director.
Workplace culture best described as toxic.  Lateral violence abundant.  Employees (and ED) sent on elaborate trips (only one example is 2 weeks in Australia for 14 staff, to attend a two day conference) which runs counter to the spirit of helping marginalized Indigenous women and their families. 

Hardest part of the job was being aware of the "creative" counting of clients and deliverables and having no resource to deal with it.  Other difficult parts of the job were working with uneducated, inexperienced staff (some who are managers).

Only enjoyable elements of the job were the other organizations I got to work with and develop relationships with.

The Ontario Native Women's Association is a community oriented place to work that supports and creates opportunity for both clients and employees.

The environment encourages staff to work from a strength-based, trauma informed practice. This was a good place to work, Monday to Friday schedule, which allowed for great work-life balance. There was always time off for emergency situations, you just had to have a conversation with your manager. This allowed you to prioritize your family too. I will come back to work at ONWA in the future and I highly recommend checking out this organization.

Working at the Ontario Native Women's Association is a gift.  We do incredible work to support our women.  ONWA is the most generous employer I've ever worked for.  Our benefits are awesome and I'm paid fairly - I get two weeks off at Christmas paid!  I find the environment supportive and management is open to my ideas.  The people I work with are some of the hardest working people I know and it's so rewarding to see the way we help our community.  We are a very fast paced place to work.  The training opportunities are endless.  I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to help community.

Many family members hired at this company, lots of bullying  by management especially the newest Director who is related to the ED. in fact there is 2 related to the ED, very poor management and favoritism, anyone that speaks up isn't believed and questioned. 
Expected to work many hours and they created an environment of a Toxic Work Environment.  They will change your job in a second and have you running to try and meet this change then change it again. They are not supportive of women by any means nor there vision.

Work culture with staff is good,  Management is a click, family and Nepotism is prevalent. Women have to feed their family, they hold you down and if you speak up say you are not educated , have plan for getting rid of you once they decide they want someone they know in the job. Lateral Violence at its finest, when you are sick, they don't care and they hound you while not working. Toxic work environment made that way by the Executive Director. Stay away.

Job opportunity not as described. Many people fired without fair reason, creating fear and instability. Client hijacking to increase stats without regard for the person. Some traditional behaviour/ teaching comes off as unnatural and exaggerated with a superiority complex. A lot of very unhealthy people working here. Highly paid and generous vacation time though. So much lateral violence.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Mental health technician 50 salaries reported	$51,580 per year
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