Desiree Charlton remembers the first time she sat in the co-pilot seat of a plane.
It was during a flight with her aunt and three cousins. She was just seven years old.
“I was the oldest out of the four of us kids, and my auntie’s baby was still pretty young. So, she had to sit in the back with her baby and I was able to sit in the co-pilot seat,” Charlton said. “During the flight, the pilot let me kind of take control of the aircraft, and I was able to pull the nose up and do a little dive.
“I still remember that still remember that feeling to this day, the feeling I got in my heart. I loved it. I loved aviation.”
Two decades later, that feeling hasn’t gone away.
Since graduating from a Red River College Polytechnic diploma program this year, the 27-year-old’s career as an aircraft maintenance engineer has taken flight.
However, the path there wasn’t without turbulence.
From War Lake to Winnipeg
Charlton grew up between Winnipeg and her home in the War Lake First Nation– an 11-hour drive from the city.
As a mechanically inclined child, she was always searching for something to repair. She recalls taking apart the family computer and tinkering with broken fans.
“I didn’t grow up with much, so whenever something broke, I kind of took it upon myself to try to fix it because I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get another one,” she said.
As a teenager, she moved to Winnipeg to attend high school.
“I had to move alone to the city without my mom and my sister to finish high school,” she said. “That was really challenging for me.”
Removed from her family and community, she felt isolated. She struggled with her mental health.
“I felt very alone. It was hard on me, and that led me to eventually drop out.”
Landing back on her feet
Several years later, Charlton decided to go back to school. She obtained her GED in 2021.
Shortly after, she enrolled in an Introduction to Trades course while pregnant with her firstborn.
“I was taking a two-hour bus ride to school and home every day when I was five, six months pregnant,” she said.
As her due date neared, the commute to class became too arduous. Luckily, she was able to complete the program online.
“I remember taking my last exam for Introduction to Trades, and it was my due date,” she said. “I had my laptop set up on the kitchen table, and I was doing my last exam on an exercise ball trying to induce labour.”
After graduating, she took a year off to spend time with her newborn.
Once she was ready to land back in school, she sought a career counsellor’s advice. They discussed an aircraft maintenance engineering diploma program–but the counsellor wasn’t confident.
“They kind of said, ‘aircraft maintenance engineering, [it] sounds like you would enjoy it, but I don’t feel like you’d fit in’,” she said. “In my head, I was thinking, ‘I’ll show you’.”
Taking up space
Determined to prove the counsellor wrong, she enrolled in Red River College Polytechnic’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineer diploma program.
During the two-year program, she received several scholarships and accolades, including the Babcock International Award for Indigenous Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Students.
She also scored a bronze medal in the Aerospace Engineering category of a Skills Canada trades competition.
Charlton credits her family and community in War Lake First Nation for inspiring her to persist.
“It felt like everyone back home was cheering me on,” she said. “Whenever anything happened, they reached out to me and let me know they were proud of me, and they were excited for me.”
Today, as a level two aircraft maintenance engineer for Perimeter Aviation, she shares a message for the counsellor who doubted her.
“I did it, and I’m still going. There’s still a lot for me out there. I’m still learning every day,” she said. “I’m here, and I’m taking up space.”
While she’s currently the only Indigenous woman in her male-dominated workplace, she hopes others will join her.
“We need more Indigenous people in aviation, Indigenous women in aviation. We deserve to take up that space.”
