Employers are ignoring First Nations workers who can help fill critical skilled-labour shortages across Canada, say some employment advocates.

"(The Aboriginal workforce) is the fastest-growing labour pool in Canada - and nobody knows that," said Kelly Lendsay, president and CEO of the Saskatoon-based Aboriginal Human Resource Development Council of Canada (AHRDCC), whose group hosted the recent Workforce Connex conference in Vancouver. "It's the biggest untapped secret."

The two-day event, which attracted 150 representatives from First Nations, industry and government, was part of a nationwide forum series designed to develop a national private sector-Aboriginal partnership strategy.

Although the Vancouver conference was geared toward developing more partnerships between B.C.-based employers and First Nations, participants said other provinces face the same difficulties.

John Webster, president of the West Vancouver-based Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society, sees an obvious answer to labour shortages.

"This is really an outreach-type strategy to recruit new employers to the Aboriginal labour-market solution," said Lendsay.

Many B.C. industries - including construction, mining and energy - have launched partnerships with Ottawa and the province to recruit, train and retain young Aboriginals in recent years. But Lendsay said most employers don't know 400,000 to 500,000 Aboriginals under the age of 24 are coming into the labour market now, while 1.4 million First Nations members will be available over the next 20 years.

He said internships, mentorships and work-experience programs are slowly boosting Aboriginal education rates and lowering unemployment, but the challenge for Workforce Connex participants is to accelerate the change.

According to the AHRDCC, one in five Aboriginal men aged 25 to 64 has an industry-sanctioned or college-level credential in building and construction technologies or trades, while another 25 per cent have graduated from industry-based or college-level industrial, mechanical or electronic engineering programs. But many Canadian business leaders still do not regard Aboriginals as the solution to their staffing woes.

"Employers are driving past the workers that they need," said Allan Page, a Victoria-based project manager for the Ottawa-based Construction Sector Council (CSC.).

Page, who heads the group's first-ever national Aboriginal career-awareness program within the ironworker trade, said the CSC has made recruiting First Nations workers a priority over the next five years.

He said the B.C. construction industry will need 30,000-40,000 new workers until at least 2010, and demand will remain high in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

B.C.'s difficulties in drawing skilled workers from Alberta and Ontario have reinforced the need to draw from the B.C. Aboriginal community - "because they're right here."

"The need is significant," added Page. "In the last four years, there's been about a 40-per-cent increase in the construction workforce, and that's put a lot of stress (on companies). There's a heavy demand for new workers, and the Aboriginal community represents a significant population of available people, so it's important to get involved with the actual communities involved in construction."

The industry recognizes the importance of Aboriginal workers and companies want to have "an effective engagement" with First Nations, he added.

"Ten years ago, that wasn't happening at all at the same level," he said. "Now, there's a real opportunity ahead of us."

Christie Behrisch, training co-ordinator for the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA), which represents 700 construction companies across the province, said the best solution is to train workers in B.C. by identifying Aboriginals and other under-employed groups.

"There is insatiable demand for workers right now," said Behrisch.

She said ICBA member companies - which have 900 registered apprentices, more than double the 2003 total - can no longer depend on inter-provincial migration, immigration and temporary workers to make up shortages.

"That sucking noise is Alberta taking everyone," said Behrisch.

Ken Peacock, senior policy analyst for the Business Council of British Columbia, said Aboriginals will become increasingly important to B.C. over the next two decades - especially in non-metropolitan areas, which are economically out-performing Greater Vancouver and have much larger First Nation populations than the provincial average of 4.4 per cent.

Based on provincial and federal government figures, he said, the province will have more than 850,000 job openings between 2003-2013. Of those, 424,800 will be new positions, while 426,600 will be existing positions that become vacant.

New-home construction, which has enjoyed a record four straight years of 20-per-cent growth, is the underlying driver of demand in all sectors. Peacock estimated B.C. construction will have 65,000 job openings by 2013, with 56.1 per cent being new positions, while education (91,300), retail (82,800) and accommodation will also see strong job growth. The lumber and oil and gas sectors won't see much economic growth, but they will still have a high demand for workers because of attrition.

"I think the Aboriginal workforce is going to be a key factor in employment growth and keeping the economy growing," said Peacock.

John Webster, president of the West Vancouver-based Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS), said the conference will ensure First Nations do not miss out on job opportunities while employers fill labour shortages.

ACCESS manages the Bladerunner program, which matches at-risk Natives with construction companies and negotiates Aboriginal human-resource development agreements (AHRDAs) with employers as part of its BC Aboriginal Workforce Strategy program (BCAWS). Under the deals, employers agree to recruit and train Aboriginals.

Webster said ACCESS wants to bring the agreements to a higher level, so that employers and First Nations recognize their respective needs earlier.

"We have to change our way of thinking and we have to train where we know there's employment opportunities - and that's what we're going to do," said Webster. "We're talking about focusing on construction as a pilot, but we're (ultimately) talking about all areas (and industries in the province.)" ACCESS has signed an AHRDA with the Interior Health Authority, bringing the total number of deals in the province to 14. First Nations, industry and government organizations have signed more than 80 AHRDAs across Canada.

"We've had many successes over the last three years," said BCAWS implementation co-ordinator Nadine Hoehne.

Following a BCAWS job fair in January, Victoria-based grocery store chain Thrifty Foods hired 11 First Nations employees, and the company will hold a job fair of its own in June, she added.

Jim Cox, vice-president of infrastructure development for the Vancouver Port Authority (VPA), said employers have to do more than just promise to help Aboriginals get jobs.

"You actually have to get involved," said Cox. "If you don't, (the partnership) is not going to work."

Cox negotiated the 2004 deal with the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) to expand the VPA's Deltaport near the Vancouver suburb of Tsawwassen. The deal, which settled a three-year-old lawsuit that the TFN had filed against the VPA over the degradation of a 15-sq.-km tidal flat, includes a $10-million joint investment fund and grants the TFN $4 million in construction contracts, $1.8 million in construction jobs and five full-time operations jobs.

Cox confessed that deadlines stipulated in the agreement have been missed and the VPA has not hired any TFN members yet, but the two groups continue to work well together. The VPA has appointed a staff member to work almost fulltime on carrying out the TFN agreement.

TFN Chief Kim Baird, who spoke at the conference with Cox, said the deal with the VPA has enabled her band to develop and expand core training and apprenticeship programs, while serving as an example of future partnerships.

But First Nations leaders said unions pose a barrier to their members' employment hopes.

"The union issue is a huge issue for First Nations," said Christine Baker, manager of the Squamish First Nation's Stitsma Employment Center.

She said bands aren't opposed to placing their members in union jobsites, but employment counsellors need to learn more about organized labour. "The only time (First Nations and unions) come together is when they have a contract on our traditional lands," said Baker.

Cross-cultural training is the key to successful programs, she added. "(Employers) need to understand us as people and we need to understand the construction industry in order to help our people succeed."

But Kelly Sinclair, director of training for the Burnaby-based Construction Industry Training Institute (CITI), said unions are making a strong effort to help Aboriginals and marginalized groups secure long-term jobs.

CITI develops training partnerships between employers, labour organizations, Aboriginal groups and government on behalf of 15 B.C. and Yukon trade unions.

"What (First Nations and unions) need to do is build bridges," said Sinclair, who noted at least 50 per cent of B.C. construction apprentices belong to unions, while only 24 per cent of the industry is unionized.

Across the country, industry and government have adopted strategies that aim to fill skilled-trades shortages through inter-provincial migration, Aboriginals, seniors and immigration.

Sinclair indicated unions oppose immigration as a strategy and said money might be better spent on providing incentives for specific demographic groups, such as Aboriginal women who require day-care services for their children.

But one barrier might not be related to cultural differences or strategies. First Nations leaders say a lot of their members can't get jobs because they don't have a driver's licence or a car - both of which are required by many employers.

Workforce Connex conferences have also been held in London, Ont., and Thunder Bay, while more are planned for Sydney, N.S., in June and Alberta, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador this fall.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)