Aboriginals untapped resource
Recent employment numbers contain good news for Saskatchewan: Our unemployment rate is around five per cent, which, according to economists, is about as good as it gets.
However, there also are some disturbing numbers in the statistics — mainly the rather high unemployment numbers among Metis and First Nations citizens. For Metis, the unemployment rate is almost double the provincial average, at 9.4 per cent while the First Nations jobless numbers are rising at 21.3 per cent.
While those numbers are high, they don’t tell the entire story. The problem is the unemployment figures don’t show the true picture as they reflect only people who are actively looking for work. They don’t include those who have given up looking, or those who are employed below their capacity in jobs they’ve taken just to make ends meet.
While these figures are hard to measure, they add to the cost to Saskatchewan both in lost potential productivity and in increased social services reliance.
While the high First Nations and Metis unemployment rates should not be acceptable to anyone, these will grow in real numbers over time. The First Nations population is growing to become a higher percentage of Saskatchewan’s total population. At the current rate, aboriginal people are expected to make up onethird of Saskatchewan’s population by 2045, which means unemployment issue will become increasingly costly.
The government, the Opposition and a lot of research papers all mention that the solution is employment training. The government espouses one training program while the NDP laments cuts to another. Training and education have made a difference, as aboriginal unemployment was at almost 30 per cent in 2001.
The government now celebrates whenever there’s a slight increase in employment and the opposition criticizes when there is a reduction. Other than that, nothing really changes.
However, the issues go far beyond training. The Alberta government in 2010 commissioned a legislative report on aboriginal employment and economic development. Called Connect the Dots, it identified racism as a significant obstacle in employment.
As the report noted, “One of the more pervasive barriers we heard about was racism and discrimination. We heard examples of discrimination against aboriginal people by landlords, employers, individuals within government, industry, service and edu- cational providers, human resources departments, and by citizens.”
The report mentions poor education on Alberta reserves, and specifically mentioned under-qualified teachers and the difficultly in accessing quality education on the reserve. This becomes an obstacle later in life when aboriginal people look for job training, as the need to upgrade basic education extends and complicates employment training.
On top of that, the intergenerational impact among First Nations of residential schools have caused many to shy away from taking an active role in their children’s education, which contributes further to poor primary and secondary school education.
The context is different in Saskatchewan, but I see the racism and poor quality of education daily as I work with homeless men and women. I am amazed that in 2012 it is possible to come of age and be illiterate, but it happens far too often. Two-thirds of aboriginal youth living on reserve are not graduating from high school. Without that diploma the road ahead is going to be tough.
I hear their stories, and there is an idea among them that many jobs are “not for me.” It isn’t that they don’t want to achieve something, but their experiences with racism have made them believe it can’t happen. Racism not only personally affects them, but the under-representation of aboriginals in some professions reinforces their doubts.
The way forward is outlined in the Alberta report, but probably the most significant step was the report process itself. In meeting with aboriginal groups, communities and businesses, and listening to both stories of failure and success, it acknowledges the existence of a problem that must be addressed.
The discussion often is framed as a cost of controlling social assistance, but in reading the Alberta report you are left with this idea that, as a province, Saskatchewan is ignoring a massive opportunity for potential growth by failing to maximize the aboriginal workforce. Just as Alberta has done, Saskatchewan is recruiting internationally while at the same time we have an untapped workforce that can be mobilized here.
With a boom that doesn’t look as if it will soon end, it’s time to invest in helping those who want work to find it.
A fully employed aboriginal workforce not only would widen our tax base, but it would also provide much needed economic activity in communities all across Saskatchewan, bringing more growth and prosperity for everyone.
Right now we have high aboriginal unemployment and labour shortages. The problem isn’t going to fix itself. We have to start to address it by admitting there is a problem.