More corporations should be trying to boost the number of aboriginal people in their workplaces, business and government leaders agreed at a Calgary forum last week.
The invitation-only event, organized by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (NAAF), brought together more than 200 corporate leaders, educators and band representatives, including Suncor Energy Inc. CEO Rick George, TransCanada PipeLines CEO Hal Kvisle and Hewlett-Packard Canada CEO Paul Tsaparis, to discuss the plight of aboriginal under-representation in the workforce.
“No single effort will solve this issue. However . . . three sets of recommendations were established for the short, medium and long-term,” said organizer John Kim Bell, a Mohawk conductor and composer from Kahnawake, Que., and founder of NAAF.
The leaders at the forum also agreed a national career employment service is needed, with a job bank function to serve employers and job seekers, and that educational support should start at the elementary level to ensure higher graduation numbers for aboriginal students. All three recommendations should be implemented within the next three years, the leaders suggested.
Following the forum, Kim Bell said the initiatives would provide “a hand up, not a handout” for aboriginal people to help increase their employment rate. It’s been estimated that the number of aboriginal people of working age will double in Canada in the next 10 years, growing three to five times faster than the non-aboriginal population of the same age.
According to a Conference Board of Canada report last October, census figures show Canada’s total aboriginal population totalled 1.3 million in 1996, with the registered Indian population expected to increase at an annual rate of 1.9 per cent until 2009 to more than 810,000 people.
The statistics show just over 50 per cent of aboriginal people have completed secondary education compared to more than two-thirds of non-aboriginal people. Only 36 per cent of Canada’s on-reserve Indians, who face geographic disadvantages in terms of access to jobs, are employed.
For the longer term, the recommendations arising from last week’s forum included support for a stay-in-school program incorporating career awareness on prospective employment sectors, coupled with mentorships, co-op experience and summer student work placements.
The group also agreed that a comprehensive approach to education is needed that includes early childhood development, increased parental involvement, higher academic standards, enhanced training for teachers and a stronger partnership with corporate Canada.
The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation is a national charity dedicated to providing financial assistance to aboriginal students.
The foundation provides more than $2 million each year in scholarships and produces the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
