Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the committee for inviting Cameco Corporation to share with you our views on the challenges and opportunities in developing and delivering workforce training programs in remote areas of the country.
For those of you who don't know, Cameco, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is one of the world’s largest producers of mined uranium used for clean energy production. The majority of our production comes from our four mining and milling operations in northern Saskatchewan.
Our mandate as a northern Saskatchewan operation is to maximize the participation in our workforce of people who live in communities located within the northern administrative district of Saskatchewan. This district is home to only 36,000 people, or roughly 3% of the population of the province. However, those individuals are scattered in communities that amount to about 40% of the terrain of the province.
Despite this geographic and obvious demographic challenge, we are proud that in our company’s 25-year history we have steadily built our local workforce to the point now where one in two, or 50%, of our employees who work at our four northern operations are local to the region.
Through agreements with the Province of Saskatchewan, these employees are classified as residents of Saskatchewan’s north, or RSNs. About 90% of RSNs are of aboriginal background, reflecting the actual makeup of these communities in the north. For an actual head count, about 1,500 of our mine site jobs today are held by workers of first nation and Métis heritage—that would be a combination of both our own employees and our contractors—making Cameco the largest industrial employer of aboriginal people in Canada.
Our success so far in advancing aboriginal employment has been accomplished through well-designed recruitment programs, training partnerships with government and aboriginal agencies, as well as accommodations by unions and clear management policies. We intend to continue building on those achievements in the future. We also believe the federal government can and should remain a participant with our industry and the Province of Saskatchewan in advancing education and skills training for people in remote northern communities.
We know this isn't an easy challenge. Saskatchewan’s largest post-secondary institutions are located in Saskatoon, Regina, and Prince Albert. The town of La Ronge, which is the biggest community in Saskatchewan’s north, is also home to a regional college, Northlands College. But even La Ronge and Northlands are still located hundreds of kilometres south of the seven key first nations and Métis communities in what is known as the Athabasca Basin. I should point out that these communities in the basin include three Dene first nation communities that still lack year-round, all-weather road connections.
Despite these challenges, there are still several hundred employees from the Athabasca Basin communities connected to our mines and mills through employment, benefiting from our long-standing practice of operating our mines on a fly-in, fly-out basis. The challenge, however, remains that half the working-age population in the north does not possess a proper grade 12 education. In order to bolster the ranks of our aboriginal workforce, we continue to scour northern communities for good employment prospects, and work with educational institutions and government to upgrade educational achievement so that more people can find themselves eligible for employment within the industry.
Current labour market development agreements negotiated by the federal government and the Government of Saskatchewan have thus done a good job in working with communities and individuals in advancing foundational training. At two of our operations, we have full-time workplace educators who work in partnership with the college, that being Northlands College. These workplace educators provide GED upgrading and skills training to both our employees and contractors.
But in order to increase the participation rate of northerners at our mining operations, there is a need for more cooperative efforts to increase opportunities for advanced training. One way to do that is to increase the number of apprentices who can be taken in and supported by industry. Cameco currently has 17 apprentices, all of whom are northern aboriginal residents. Initially these 17 apprentices must do some compulsory course work at a post-secondary institution in either Prince Albert or Saskatoon. After placement at one of our operations, workplace educators assist these apprentices in providing further academic support.
We are excited by the possibility that proposed changes to the LMDA program could allow companies to provide additional training opportunities such as apprenticeships. We are encouraged to see that there appears to be aspects of the Canada job grant program that are well aligned to both our company’s and our industry’s needs. We think it quite valuable that companies could work with existing employees to access funds for training to boost their skill levels.
Employees working for Cameco already have advantages and opportunities to advance, especially in the north, through our career transition program. It identifies and encourages high-performing, motivated northern residents to make the transition within the workforce to a higher-level occupation. Today, we currently pay for their tuition and books for technical school or university, pay their wages while they attend school, and employ them during the summer break in the new occupations that they ultimately desire to obtain. Then, we hire them back into their fields once they complete their education.
Not everyone is suited for, or ready for, an extended period of time outside the home community attending a post-secondary institution. Having more trade apprentices learning and working on site, and being supported by a program such as the Canada job grant, would increase the number of people with the opportunities for advancement in their mining careers.
Only if there is an upward progression within our operations can we see further permanent gains in the level of aboriginal employment in our region. Federal support for enhanced training opportunities, which support this type of upward progression for motivated individuals, would benefit not only the individuals but ultimately society as a whole, by creating a better educated and better compensated taxpayer.
I thank you for your attention.