Human Resources Committee on Dec. 5th, 2013

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

As you know, our government believes that jobs and economic growth are fundamental to improving the lives of aboriginal people in Canada. Opportunities for first nations, Inuit, and Métis people have never been greater, but they need to be ready to take advantage of these opportunities. Governments can play a critical role in helping to create the conditions necessary for economic success.

What is the government doing to improve economic opportunities for aboriginal people? Maybe everyone can chip in on this.

[Allan Clarke]

Thank you for that.

In economic action plan 2013, there are a number of commitments to demonstrate ongoing support for promoting aboriginal participation in the economy. There are more resources for consultation of aboriginal people, particularly associated with resource development. We're aligning, as we mentioned already, our on-reserve economic assistance programs with provincial systems to better support training and employment.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Thank you.

[Allan Clarke]

There's more.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

You actually had an extra 15 seconds, because I wanted to give you a chance to answer.

We'll move over to Madame Groguhé.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I am waiting for an answer to my question about Aboriginal women.

[James Sutherland]

On discrimination?

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Yes.

[James Sutherland]

In our engagement strategies across the country, we've heard an awful lot about this. It will be something we need to examine moving into the next proposals, post-2015. We believe that working in partnership with business really helps overcome those obstacles. When businesses are looking for employers and the aboriginal population is in a position to meet them, that is one very important key to overcoming that. We often provide, especially in our skills and partnerships fund projects, continued support within the workplace so that aboriginal people can overcome some of those obstacles that may be in place.

The project with De Beers, which I mentioned earlier, actually involves a community representative who works in the company, not as an actual miner but as a liaison between the community, the company, and the individuals, to ensure that any issues that arise in the workplace can be resolved. We find that the common work culture is often seen by the aboriginal employee as being discriminatory. Often that can be overcome simply with better cultural understandings between groups.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

One of the practices that I am familiar with and that works well in companies is tutoring. When companies hire young people, do they have a practice like that in place?

[James Sutherland]

In our programming we allow for certain types of that: mentorship, job coaches, and that kind of thing. It's not directly under the name you mentioned, but along those lines, yes.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Very well.

Budget 2013 says this about the Skills and Partnership Fund: “Projects must demonstrate that they respond to labour market demands, develop partnerships and leverage contributions from the private sector.”

What exactly are the labour market demands in Aboriginal communities? Have those demands been determined?

[James Sutherland]

It really depends on what initiatives are happening. I think Mr. Clarke mentioned earlier about the 600 or so major projects that are either online or coming online in the natural resource sector. Many aboriginal communities that have never been close to economic drivers are now finding themselves within a distance where they can take advantage of that.

I think one of the largest examples of that which most people would be aware of is in the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario. Some communities in dire straits are going to be provided with some opportunities they've never had before.

We work that particular program in a call-for-proposal approach, whereby the community or the aboriginal entity and the business come together in partnership and then they approach us. Not an awful lot of us are identifying the opportunities and then making the linkage, but I will say that this is a requirement under ASETS, that every ASET holder is supposed to examine the labour market in their area, and that their annual operating plans respond to those particular needs.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Absolutely.

We know that manual or practical professions are not popular with young people. What incentives do you provide to attract young people to that type of professional training? How do you recruit them? We have to address the shortages in order to encourage economic development in some regions. How do you attract young people to that type of training?

[James Sutherland]

I think one of the key parts to that is as the individual comes in, either to skills and partnership projects or into the ASETS themselves, they undergo an assessment. Part of that assessment is to explain what the expectations in a particular area might be. Somebody may come in wanting to work in the mine, but after finding out what's involved, they may not want to. Conversely, somebody may come in not wanting to do that at all, but after going through an information session, some counselling, which is included as part of our programming, they may very well decide to go there.

[Sadia Groguhé, NDP, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Okay.

[The Vice-Chair (Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims), NDP, Jinny Sims]

Thank you very much.

We'll move to you, Mr. Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Rainer, you talked before about the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia and the 80% graduation rate and how things have improved over the last three years. In my previous profession I was an educator in a school that had a fairly large first nations population, and they were doing very well, particularly the last couple of years that I was there, because the band had made education a priority. They had put together an early childhood education program with a lot of resources, so the students were arriving at school with a lot of skills that the rest of the population, quite frankly, didn't have in many cases. They had resources paid for by the band put into the public school system so the students had extra supports, particularly in the area of literacy.

Mr. Rainer, you talked about essential skills being the biggest hurdle. Would you not agree that you have to start early if you're going to provide those essential skills? Would that be accurate?

[Chris Rainer]

We would agree. That's why the focus at this point is on K-to-12 education, and helping communities increase that rate of graduation because without early development of skills, if you can't graduate from high school, then it's difficult to take advantage of other opportunities. So, yes, early education in a way that speaks to students so they want to learn and stay in the school system is critical.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Most demographic data in Canada show that people are having children later. That tends to be a demographic that applies to most of our population, with the exception of first nations who tend to be much younger when they start a family. I think I'm accurate in saying that, am I not? When the students start to come to school a lot of the parents are very young themselves compared to the rest of the population, and that gap has now grown because the rest of the population is having children later.

A lot of effort and a lot of resources also have to be put toward parent education. Is that accurate?

[Chris Rainer]

Parents certainly need to be involved in education. It is a critical factor in success. We certainly think the more a community and parents are involved in the well-being and the proper education of their kids, the more successful their children will be.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you. I'm going to move on to the SPF.

In your remarks you talked about some specific projects, one being shipbuilding in Atlantic Canada. I'd like to know a little more about how that particular program works. Can you give me a rundown on how this program supporting shipbuilding affects first nations in Atlantic Canada?

[James Sutherland]

We have a specific project with Unama'ki, I think is the name of the organization, which is developing a relationship with Irving and with the secondary and tertiary businesses around there. They will identify the types of jobs that are in need. In fact, many of these employers will make commitments to hiring people.

They will then go out and recruit people for training. When those people are successful in that training, in that scenario, there will be jobs waiting for them in many instances, if not most, once they're finished.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

We're still a couple of years away from cutting steel there. What's the uptake on that? Has there been a significant subscription to that program?

[James Sutherland]

We're still in the early days of that particular project, but as I understand it, they've actually been quite successful in recruiting people to start.

To be clear, not all the jobs they will be getting are actually with Irving in building the ships. A lot will be secondary and tertiary, which means that those jobs are available now. The new businesses are setting up, or the existing businesses need to do it.

In addition, I would point out that if it is in the shipbuilding directly, Irving is going to need a lot of people, as will their subcontractors, but other business is still happening. As people are drawn away to go and work there, the backfill can be done with these aboriginal people, who are now trained.