An Indigenous-owned tech company is lobbying Ontario for support to expand a training and employment model for digital skills.

Plato registered to lobby the province on Aug. 5, according to the IJF’s lobbying database.

The company is looking for government funding and policy support to expand digital skills training and career opportunities for Indigenous people, with a particular focus on Northern Ontario.

This could include grants, loans or changes to existing provincial programs, according to the registration.

In the lobbying registration, the tech company says the overall goal is "to increase Indigenous participation in Ontario's digital economy, strengthen employability and contribute to sustainable economic development in Indigenous communities and local economies.”

Plato describes itself as Canada’s largest Indigenous-owned software testing and technology services company.

Headquartered in Fredericton, N.B., the company has offices across Canada, including in Sault Ste. Marie. Kitsaki Management, the economic development arm of Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan, owns 20 per cent stake in Plato.

In Sault Ste. Marie the company runs an eight month-long Indigenous software tester training program for First Nations, Inuit and Métis participants. It includes five months of classroom training followed by an internship working on a Plato client project.

The company says successful graduates are guaranteed full-time jobs.

The program has already led some Indigenous participants into careers in tech.

Candice Tangie, a member of Michipicoten First Nation, was among the first 11 Indigenous people to graduate from the Sault Ste. Marie program in 2019.

Before joining Plato, Tangie told SooToday, she was working two jobs and sometimes 13 hour days. After graduating, she was offered full time employment with the company.

More than a year after that first cohort graduated, six of the 11 were still working for Plato.

More recent numbers show the training has continued.

A 2025 impact report from Kitsaki Management says 73 students were trained across five cohorts, including one in Sault Ste. Marie. The report says the training reached people from at least 47 First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.

It also reported that 40 per cent of Plato employees identified as Indigenous and $6.4 million in wages were paid directly to Indigenous families and communities.

Plato has also received millions in government support for its work in Northern Ontario.

In 2019, Ontario announced more than $1.2 million for the company to train Indigenous people for careers in software testing in Sault Ste. Marie. The province said at the time the project would create 57 full time jobs.

That same year, the federal government announced another $2.6 million through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario to establish an Indigenous software testing centre in the city.

And provincial support has continued. Plato is currently hiring an Indigenous software tester intern in Sault Ste. Marie through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation’s People and Talent Program Indigenous Stream.

Plato did not respond to requests for comment. The provincial government said it was not able to provide a response by deadline.

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