Niagara’s Indigenous youth applying skills through federally-funded programs
Ottawa delivers $8 million in support
Canada has a deep history of inequity — and about $8 million in funding to help Indigenous youths gain skills and training to start successful careers is one way of changing this past, says Patty Hajdu.
At an ongoing Habitat for Humanity Niagara build on Afton Avenue in Welland, a site that has welcomed several helping hands for the past few months through Niagara Peninsula Aboriginal Area Management (NPAAMB), the funding announcement made earlier this year was celebrated again by politicians and stakeholders.
“We all don’t come to this world with the same fair set of assets,” Hajdu, the federal minister of employment, workforce development and labour, said at the event.
“I think the most important thing a government can do is level the playing field,” added Hajdu, MP for Thunder Bay.
There are two programs that will benefit from the cash handed down by the government.
NPAAMB will receive close to $3 million for its four-year project Journey to Success, which focuses on essential skills in the workplace for Indigenous youth. In partnership with Niagara College, the project will offer 112 Indigenous learners an in-classroom opportunity to learn key cultural competencies, and essential and employability skills, while also offering students paid work placements in highdemand sectors such as tourism, hospitality and building trades.
More than $5 million has been received to support NPAAMB’s Building Futures for Aboriginal Youth project, which will help 150 Indigenous youths across southern Ontario gain skills and training in the areas of building and construction, in partnership with YMCA Niagara, YMCA Ontario Employment Youth and Habitat for Humanity.
Hunter Williams has been enrolled in the Building Futures program since April, a stepping stone in his aspiration to one day establish his own construction company.
“When I found this program, I thought it would broaden my skill set and give me the ability to increase my value as a worker,” he said.
Caroline Hill, part of the Journey to Success program, hopes to one day be a personal support worker, an occupation she has appreciated for many years watching PSWs care for her father, who has a brain injury.
“I’ve already had a lot of experience with PSWs and I really want to help support our Indigenous communities,” she said.
Shari St. Peter, executive director of NPAAMP, said both programs have been successful since they began earlier this year, explaining they expose young Indigenous people to sectors where jobs are available while putting their skills to work immediately.
“It allows them to get an integrated learning experience,” she said.
Hajdu said many of the youths involved are eager to build their lives through a career, despite not having everything handed to them on a silver platter, living in poverty.
“It isn’t because they aren’t working hard. It’s because a whole bunch of things are happening in their lives,” said Hajdu.