Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to be with you this afternoon to discuss a very important subject.
The Association of Canadian Community Colleges wishes to congratulate the standing committee on undertaking a study on employability issues in Canada and providing the association with an opportunity to highlight several areas that we believe the committee should be addressing in its study.
As the national and international voice of Canada's 150 publicly funded colleges, institutes of technology, CEGEPs, and university colleges across Canada, a primary role of our institutions is to engage proactively as a first-line responder in response to their mandate to contribute to the economic and social development of the communities they serve. With campuses in well over 1,000 communities across Canada, 1.5 million full-time and part-time learners, and close to 60,000 professionals, our institutions play a pivotal role in the employer-, individual-, and government-funded skills training, and have traditionally been the implementers of federal training programs for the unemployed and aboriginal communities.
Specifically, the association and its member institutions recommend to the standing committee the following four recommendations.
First, the federal government must take the lead and move forward with governments, business, labour, educational institutions, and other community groups to develop and implement a comprehensive pan-Canadian workforce development strategy that will address the pressing skills gaps facing our nation and be inclusive of all Canadians. The time has come for all stakeholders to work together to develop a strategy that will encompass the needs of both the employed and the unemployed and recognize the diversity of individuals who need the opportunities for learning and training.
Increased skills requirements, rapid technology change, the demographics of an aging population, a smaller workforce, and a rapid decline in skilled workers throughout almost every industry result in skilled workers becoming an increasingly scarce commodity across our country. We cannot as a nation continue to ignore the realities of our current and future workforce and not seize this as an opportunity to assist the unemployed and disadvantaged segments of our populations. In particular, with our first nations—the only segment that is in a positive growth pattern and one of Canada's youngest segments—linking these communities with their local community colleges is a critical first step.
As for our second recommendation, the federal government must act now to reinvest in essential components of prosperity: the quality, capacity, and access to Canada's publicly funded post-secondary and skills systems. Canadian colleges and institutes represent a master key able to open the door to skills development for a diverse range of learners in all regions of our country.
In this context, however, we wish to acknowledge the federal government's announcements in the last budget. The transfers to the provinces for post-secondary education, as well as the $500 million per year over the next six years to address gaps in labour market programming support, are important steps that are certainly in the right direction. Colleges and institutes now urge the federal and provincial governments to collaborate in order to ensure that these transfer funds do indeed reach their intended targets.
Third, the association recommends the creation of a college institute access fund that would provide multifaceted learner support services and tools within the community, particularly in rural and remote communities, in disadvantaged groups that are in urban settings, and in aboriginal communities where the demand for skills and literacy development is of particular significance.
Creative and flexible training initiatives and support services will be required to meet the training needs of a diverse population. As Canada's largest skills trainer—there are 1.5 million learners in our institutions—we're well placed to address the skills gaps across the nation. Clearly, colleges and institutes must be at the forefront, working closely with the federal and provincial governments in developing future training strategies that will address skills shortages, meet the learning needs of a diverse student population, and contribute to the overall economic growth of our nation.
Finally, the association recommends the creation of a new learner support system that will reduce the complexities of existing systems; increase the access to post-secondary education and skills; address the concerns of aboriginal communities, immigrants, and other disadvantaged groups; and include grants for the first two years of post-secondary education.
In closing, I draw the attention of the standing committee to the documents we've submitted to you. In there you will see a report that addresses the way in which our institutions respond to the needs of our aboriginal learners and our immigrant learners. But in that document particularly, there's a graphic that really outlines how our institutions play a key role.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to be with you this afternoon. I await your questions with considerable interest.