Shaping the Career of Your Dreams in the NWT: Rebecca Saari, P.Eng.

Member Feature

Rebecca Saari (she/they), P.Eng., is a senior engineer of underground construction and development at Diavik Diamond Mine and has been a member of NAPEG since 2017. Rebecca was nominated for and won the 2024 NAPEG Young Achievers Award for her exceptional work, including the design, construction and commissioning of advanced engineering systems and infrastructure. 

Rebecca Saari, P.Eng., was always at the top of her class in math and science. But becoming an engineer was never presented to her as a possibility. 

“In high school, I was at the top of the class in calculus and physics, but everyone told me I should be a teacher,” Rebecca shares. “Meanwhile, some of my male classmates, who had similar or lower grades, were told they should be engineers. That’s when I started questioning, ‘What is an engineer?’” 

Born into a blue-collar family, Rebecca says she had little exposure to the engineering profession until a transformative school field trip that took her to an engineering facility in a neighbouring city on Vancouver Island. “I went along on the trip, and that’s when I realized I could apply math and physics to real-world applications. It was exactly what I wanted to do,” she explains. 

That field trip sent her on a career trajectory she believes she might not have otherwise discovered. “People don’t quite realize the impact they can have on kids, especially when it comes to introducing them to different career paths based on gender. It starts with parenting and teachers. It can really shape the way a person’s life goes.” 

In 2011, Rebecca applied to and was accepted to the mechanical engineering program at the University of Victoria. Her first co-op placement was at Teck Coal Ltd. which set her direction in mining. “I liked the kind of large-scale application of engineering in mining,” she says. “I just liked that atmosphere.” The following year she got a placement with Dominion Diamond Corporation (Ekati), bringing her to the North for the first time. 

Enthralled by the remote northern environment, Yellowknife’s tight-knit community, and the opportunities for growth and development, Rebecca joined Diavik Diamond Mine in 2017 and moved to Yellowknife in 2018. 


Building a Life and Career in the North 

Rebecca found her community quickly after moving to Yellowknife – including meeting her future wife, Nora. “I kind of got lucky and found my circle of friends right away,” she notes. “There’s a lot of young professionals in Yellowknife, with a large demographic of people in their late twenties and early thirties.”

It was easy to make connections, she explains, because people are typically drawn to the North over a shared set of values and interests in the outdoors. “People who live here are pretty adventurous, so you have to have that kind of spirit to thrive,” she says.

Rebecca’s strong community at home serves as an important support system while she works in an isolated mine site outside of Yellowknife two weeks at a time. She believes that the two-week on-site and two-week at-home schedule – despite some challenges it can bring – also offers a unique clarity to her work-life balance. “My work life is very separate from my home life,” she explains. 

While at home, Rebecca spends her time in nature running or hiking, spending time with her wife and friends, working on small carpentry projects, and completing a Master of Business Administration online through the University of Fredericton.

While at work, Rebecca is energized by the latest problems that need to be solved. “My work is really innovative. Working in construction, there are a lot of opportunities to be creative and to figure out solutions to real-world problems,” she explains. “Everybody works as a team and everyone has a voice.”


Engineering Change: NAPEG Young Achievers Award  

Rebecca was nominated for NAPEG’s 2024 Young Achievers Award by a colleague and former manager. She won and was awarded in May at the NAPEGG Education Foundation’s annual Awards Banquet. 

While Rebecca typically shies away from being in the spotlight she admits the nomination and award were a welcome reflection of her hard work over the last several years. 

“It meant quite a bit because it was a recognition of the hard work I put in on some of the projects that we did over the last two years. It was a recognition of my dedication to bring those projects through,” she says. “It meant a lot especially because I was nominated by people I have a lot of respect for.”

She attributes her success to her willingness to actively seek out opportunities for experience and advancement, which are plentiful in the North, she says. “There are so many opportunities here because there are fewer people. But you have to seek them out and assert yourself.” 

Being assertive can be a big challenge for women and gender-diverse people who are entering an engineering education or career pathway, Rebecca emphasizes. “Some folks can self-advocate more easily than others. And to think of all of the youth that are missed if they aren’t in a position to – or haven’t been encouraged to – pursue the things that they want to do.”

That concern is reflected in the data. According to Engineers Canada, women represent just 20 percent of new engineering registrants across Canada in 2024. It’s a statistic that regulators like NAPEG across the country are working collaboratively to improve through initiatives like 30 by 30 – aiming to raise it to 30 percent by 2030. 

Rebecca represents the forefront of a new generation of women and gender-diverse engineers in the North who have overcome significant barriers and are now thriving in their work and life. She hopes to see more do the same. “Trust in your own abilities, you don’t have less to offer than your coworkers or schoolmates. Recognize your worth and make sure your voice is heard,” she says, when asked what advice she’d give. “If you seek out opportunities, you can shape the career of your dreams and the Northwest Territories is a great place for that.”