Yes, this is a huge issue for us. We're averaging about 2.2% of aboriginal workers within the electricity sector, which is extremely low.
We've just completed a three-year project funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada looking at recruitment and retention of aboriginal people in the industry. It had two pillars. One was to help the actual employers to be able to do that, with tools for recruitment and cultural awareness and how to bring people into the business.
But we also looked at increasing the awareness of aboriginal peoples of the sheer number of occupations and opportunities available in the sector. This is extremely important, particularly as a lot of the infrastructure build takes place in rural and remote regions. It gives an opportunity for us to engage the aboriginal workforce and not have them have to leave where they live. Many times, having to leave their homes, etc., is an absolute barrier for them.
As part of this, we developed two pilot projects.
One was a pre-orientation trades program, which we did in conjunction with an aboriginal organization and one of our employers in Newfoundland. We put a number of aboriginal youth through the process of identifying whether they liked those four specific occupations.
We also have conducted six aboriginal youth camps, and we're committed to doing a lot more of those. They're focused on 10-to-13-year-olds, because it's extremely important to catch them at an earlier age, before they start dropping the math and science, subjects they need to have as they go into our industry. This gives them hands-on exposure to the industry.
The camps are usually a week long. We bring in mentors from the industry to talk about the positions, and the participants get an opportunity to learn what occupations are out there and at the same time to focus in on the need to maintain their schooling.