Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Anja Jeffrey. I am the director for the Centre for the North, an initiative within the Conference Board of Canada. I am here today with Heidi Martin, the lead author of a new report that we published in November 2011 called “Building Labour Force Capacity in Canada's North”. I believe that's the reason we are here today.
The Centre for the North was established in 2009 and runs until 2014. It's supported by industry and government via aboriginal organizations and academia. I believe it to be the only balanced matrix of dialogue on the challenges facing Canada's north.
We have about 50 investors in this initiative. We look at three overall themes: sovereignty and security, thriving communities, and economic development. We'll also be looking at international best practices to see how Canada's policies and recommendations compare with those of other countries.
Once we finish this initiative, we will have looked at a variety of issues pertinent to Canada's north. We will have looked at impact analyses and recommendations, and we will have made sure that we consulted with stakeholders across the north so that everything is prioritized.
In other words, if you have competing public policy priorities but limited human and financial resources, as is often the case in the north, how do you get the most bang for your buck? What do you need to do to produce the most impact for the aboriginal and non-aboriginal people who live in the north, to create the most successful economic sustainable development, and to make sure that Canada maintains its influence on the international scene when it comes to developing its Arctic and sub-Arctic areas?
This initiative not only focuses on the three territories; it also focuses on the northern jurisdictions of the seven provinces.
Our report on building labour force capacity in Canada's north is one of several reports that we have published or will be publishing in the next couple of years. If you log on to our website, you will find our mission and vision statements as well as our brochure and all the reports we've put out. We are funded upfront, so everything can be downloaded.
Our report on labour force capacity has been very well received. I can only echo what our Suncor colleagues have already said: it's all about education, employability skills, and job-specific skills.
The north faces an interesting paradox. There seems to be tons of room for labour force engagement, but not the necessary skills to fill the positions available. It's something that industry, governments, and the organizations involved in labour skills development bump up against. The real question becomes, what do you do?
One of the things we've heard about over and over again is the need for stable and sustained funding for the education of younger students and for ensuring that trade skills development programs are available. That is really important. The building of public-private partnerships in this area will be paramount.
The mining companies are pulling their weight. They have their fair share of programs aimed at advancing economic activity, and IBAs in the north are being negotiated to further skills training and education. It's like building a school. But how do you attract teachers if you can only employ them on a year-to-year basis?
We see a lot of competing priorities when it comes to building sustainable economic development in Canada's north. If you don't pull the people along from a very early age, you will not be able to realize the economic development potential that we see in Canada's north.
I will wrap up by saying that our report provides a number of examples. It is empirically based. The Conference Board of Canada does evidence-based research. We will be happy to speak to some of the examples we have encountered by reaching out to entities in the provinces and the territories.
Thank you.