Mr. Paul Thompson (Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development) at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

My name is Paul Thompson. I am the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister for the Skills and Employment Branch at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

I am pleased to appear today to provide the committee with information pertaining to our labour market programs that we deliver in the territories as well as to discuss some of the linkages between HRSDC and the new Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, or CanNor.

But before I outline the current programs that we deliver in the three territories, I would like to begin by outlining some of the labour market challenges in the territories, which are an important context for the programs that we deliver. As may be well known to the committee, the territories experience a number of socio-economic and demographic challenges that impact on the level of economic and labour market development for all the inhabitants.

Northerners inhabit a very thinly populated region in a very vast area. The territories encompass 39% of Canada's land mass, where approximately 100,000 people live spread across 77 communities. This is important information for how we deliver our programs. The northern population growth rate is nearly double the Canadian average, with a large aboriginal—