Thank you very much.
Aanii. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to present before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
My name is Dawn Madahbee, and I'm the vice-chair of the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board. The board is pleased to know that the members of this committee are undertaking a study to better understand the opportunities for aboriginal persons in the workplace and the supports that are available to them through federal government programs.
Established in 1990, the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board was created by order in council to provide strategic policy and program advice to the federal government on aboriginal economic development. The board brings together first nations, Inuit, and Métis business and community leaders from all regions of Canada to advise the federal government on ways to increase the economic participation of aboriginal people in the Canadian economy. In recent years, the national board has reviewed aboriginal education and skills issues through its work on the Aboriginal Economic Benchmarking Report, on aboriginal participation in the natural resource economy, and on barriers to economic development on reserve.
I will first tell you about the Aboriginal Economic Benchmarking Report, which presents a picture of the aboriginal economic outcomes. I will then follow up with the board’s views on aboriginal education and skills training, including its views on the aboriginal skills and employment training strategy, or ASETS. I will then highlight the board’s recent recommendations in these areas.
Published in June 2012, the Aboriginal Economic Benchmarking Report is the first comprehensive document of its kind to assemble indicators and establish benchmarks to measure the social and economic well-being of first nations, Inuit, and Métis. The objectives of the report are first to assess the state of the aboriginal economy in Canada across a number of key indicators including employment and education, and second, to track the progress of aboriginal people in Canada against these indicators over time. I believe you've been given copies of this report.
This report finds that although aboriginal results are on the rise, there continue to be significant gaps in education, labour, and market outcomes between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. For example, in 2011 only 62% of aboriginal people had a high school diploma; this is in comparison with 81% of non-aboriginal people. Furthermore, only 7.4% of aboriginal people had a university degree, compared with 21.4% of the non-aboriginal population.
Lower education outcomes lead to lower market and general economic outcomes. The 2011 National Household Survey indicates that all aboriginal-identity groups experience significant unemployment. The situation of first nations on reserve and of Inuit is especially dire. The unemployment rates of 25.2% for first nations on reserve and 19.5% for Inuit are three to four times higher than the unemployment rate of non-aboriginal people, which is approximately 7.5%.
For the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board, the facts just stated demonstrate that strong educational outcomes are the cornerstone upon which all successful economies are built. In the board’s view, a significant contributor to these poor outcomes is funding levels that are not keeping pace with the rapid growth of the aboriginal population, which increased by almost 20% between 2006 and 2011, or with education funding levels provided to other Canadians. In fact, in absolute terms, per capita funding for aboriginal students has actually been decreasing over the last decade.
Aboriginal people must have the skills required by employers and communities to be meaningful participants in the economy. Our board therefore recommends that education funding levels be increased immediately to a per capita level similar to or on a par with those provided to non-aboriginal Canadians. The board calls for a review of the 2% funding cap on first nations education to align future funding increases with population growth and suggests expanding education funding to include Métis and non-status Indians where gaps with levels in mainstream Canada exist.
This is not an argument for simple parity in resourcing. It is an argument for the ability to deliver meaningful education programming and to implement specific, culturally relevant aboriginal curricula developed by and with aboriginal scholars, academics, and traditional teachers.
The Government of Canada is providing skills training support for aboriginal people through a number of programs and initiatives, including through the aboriginal skills and employment training strategy, and the recently launched first nations job fund. I would like to highlight that the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board considers that ASETS is a successful program.
The delivery mechanism is locally driven by aboriginal organizations, which allows for customized and tailored interventions that can target special needs and focus on the specificity of local labour markets. The board considers the guidelines of the ASETS program to be efficient and appropriate. In fact, Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band in British Columbia—who is also the chair of our board—has decided to spend and administer his community’s training funds through the local ASETS program. This is a testament to the program’s value.
Furthermore, the poor educational outcomes of aboriginal people mean that the needs for pre-employment training in such areas as literacy, numeracy, and basic skills are not being met. This would be improved through sufficient education funding that ASETS must now deliver and that other programs focused on technical or occupational skills usually do not. Because of its success in supporting aboriginal training for employment, the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board strongly recommends the renewal of the ASETS program. The board would also like to offer a number of recommendations to improve ASETS to better fulfill the needs of aboriginal people.
One of the areas for improvement is in efficiency gains. ASETS could improve its efficiencies and lower its administrative costs by better aligning its coverage. In some regions, multiple ASETS holders are covering areas in close proximity to each other. In such cases, keeping local service points within one regional administrative office to encourage more collaboration on larger regional projects could potentially result in savings that could then be reinvested in additional training opportunities. This way you could still maintain those community service points but having a central administration to work with them and provide that collaboration in some of the areas, I think, would result in some improvements.
As for long-term funding, it is our opinion that the conditions under which ASETS holders operate would be improved if the funding were approved for longer periods of time. The current funding structure does not allow ASETS to support training for large, long-term projects. Long-term funding would allow ASETS training to better match the lifetime of natural resource projects and allow aboriginal people to fully benefit from the employment opportunities they generate. Long-term funding would enable aboriginal people to prepare for and find employment in major natural resource projects. Natural resource project life cycles are long, sometimes 25 to 50 years. Training must have both continuity and the ability to adapt to keep pace with new technologies as they evolve. For example, when you look at the Ring of Fire area in northern Ontario, a lot of the training is taking place before the development starts, but once that development starts there is going to be a need for continued training.
Early renewal is another recommendation we'd like to look at.
As the current funding for ASETS is due to end in 2015, it is important to make a decision on its renewal as soon as possible and to communicate it to all parties involved. Early renewal of the program would provide certainty for all. ASETS holders could implement their strategic plans and retain experienced and committed staff.