Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Let me extend my thanks to all the members of this committee for the invitation to appear as a witness today to speak about employability issues in Canada, specifically concerning aboriginal women.
These issues are of great importance to me and the Native Women's Association of Canada. We are an AHRDA holder, but at this time, we are in a pot of money in which we enhance the AHRDA program. We don't access our fair share of that funding. With the enhancements we do put forward to address employability issues for women, we take a holistic approach and address the broader determinants of employment success.
Aboriginal women still experience the highest rates of violence in this country, have the lowest education levels and the largest number of children, and live in poverty. These broad determinants of employability success can be framed under three topics.
The first topic is the minimum education requirement. In order for there to be a systemic approach, the jurisdiction and control of lifelong learning must have a collaborative and strategic objective that includes all stakeholders. Aboriginal women must be assured that protections will be established that will respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of all aboriginal peoples in lifelong learning goals. Specifically, education at all levels must be culturally appropriate and controlled by aboriginal peoples, respecting gender, race, language, disability, and sexual orientation. To accomplish this, federal and provincial territorial governments need reform and activity transfers regarding jurisdictional control or the inclusion of aboriginal communities in educational institutions, including in child development programming.
Jurisdictions should evolve to include value learning, recognizing that learning happens via many non-traditional methods. This would clearly recognize culturally appropriate learning centres, teachings, and traditions. Currently, nearly half the aboriginal population has not obtained a high school certificate. This, in turn, leads to low-paying jobs, low possibilities for advancement and promotion, or dependency on government benefit programs. And the cycle of poverty is hard to break.
Therefore, we recommend the following: that national standards be developed for curriculum content on all on-reserve aboriginal school curricula; that government develop and encourage initiatives to implement an aboriginal studies curriculum, and that this curriculum be done by aboriginal peoples; articulated, accredited programs that integrate workplace and work practicums for advancement opportunities for women; that government support home work and nurture partnerships with college and university preparation courses for post-secondary studies; and that government increase financial support to continue and improve training initiatives, such as the aboriginal human resource development agreements, to upgrade skills.
The second topic is skilled worker shortages. Canada will face a skilled labour shortage as many Canadian baby boomers start retiring and the economy remains strong. At the same time, aboriginal people in Canada are the nation's youngest and fastest growing segment of the population. We must find a way to change the high percentage of unemployment for aboriginal people, utilizing both on- and non-reserve approaches. The aboriginal population is the largest untapped human resource in Canada, and we believe we can solve Canada's labour shortage.
Therefore, we recommend that opportunities and partnerships with corporations and industry leaders be developed and brought to the attention of aboriginal people through financial assistance for continuing education; that they are provided employment upon completion of their training or studies; and that government develops and markets to industry leaders a policy of inclusion of aboriginal people as a solution for skilled worker shortages.
Finally, our third topic is training and day care issues. Upon dissolution of marriage, women often have to upgrade their skills and education to re-enter the workforce and support their children. They usually have to travel to urban centres, where they lose their support network of extended family.
Aboriginal women lead the way in graduates when barriers are removed from education, training, and skills development opportunities. Aboriginal women also lead the way in terms of small business development when barriers are removed.
Our studies have found that child care and the costs of child care are difficult to access, and they are insufficient. This leads to single mothers having to carry the burden of child care on their own or having to receive government benefits and pass up the opportunities to train to re-enter the job market. Current initiatives do not have set-aside budgets for child care and limit the ability of aboriginal women to receive training by having such restrictive criteria.
Therefore, we recommend that all government initiatives regarding training, education, and/or skill upgrading include a budget allocation for child or dependant care; that all government initiatives remove restrictive criteria for aboriginal mothers who seek training or education to re-enter the job market; that government develops, in conjunction with aboriginal people, a national aboriginal child care program that would respond to the needs of aboriginal families, day care facilities, and child care policies that allow for at-home care, extended family support, and remuneration of child care.
It is clear that good programming for aboriginal women and their children has to vary according to their needs and needs their involvement in creating these programs. However, statistics send a clear message: with the high level of unemployment and poverty, combined with a very young population that has a high unemployment rate, aboriginals must become involved in the workforce to share in this economic prosperity.
I thank you, Mr. Chair, for your time.