Program expands to help more Indigenous Albertans find work
A pilot project launched two years ago to help Indigenous Albertans find jobs has proven so popular that the provincial government will continue the program for the next two years. Reporter Juris Graney was at the announcement Tuesday.
Q What is the project?
A The Alberta Indigenous Construction Career Centre was established in March 2015 to help Indigenous Albertans find meaningful employment in the province. Not only does the centre connect the unemployed or underemployed with construction jobs, but they’ve also set up programs like diversity training with industry partners to help “promote cultural acceptance within the work environment.”
“Because if you can enhance understanding, I think overall, you are going to see better success,” said NorQuest College president Jodi Abbott.
While all of the $1.9 million committed to the program comes from federal government coffers via the Canada-Alberta Job Fund, the province gets to decide who gets that money.
The two centres, located at NorQuest College and at Bow Valley College in Calgary, will receive $1.5 million and $400,000, respectively.
Q Has it been a success?
A In short — yes. When the pilot project was launched with $1 million in government funding, the goal was to find 300 of its 750 clients jobs. To date, they have found 1,235 people jobs, and the extra funding will allow staff to serve another 1,400 over the next two years. They are expecting to find 890 clients jobs in the province.
“One of the things we learned in the first two years is how much value there is in the support we can give to employers so that they can understand how to welcome Indigenous workers into the workforce,” Abbott said.
“Employers are interested in the most highly skilled individuals, so to be able to bring them people with safety tickets, the right equipment and the right skills is incredibly valuable.”
BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYEES
The biggest thing electrician Greg Heard wants people to know about the centre is simply that it exists.
“People don’t normally enrol in programs like this because they are unaware of them and that’s a great hindrance to a lot of people,” he said.
The 36-year-old electrician found out about the centre just in time to update his safety tickets. Without it, he would be out of work or at least seriously underemployed.
With tough economic times, finding the extra cash for his first aid, elevated work platform, fall arrest and basic safety orientation tickets would have stretched his
finances to a breaking point.
“Anybody looking to upgrade their tickets, or even just finding the tickets, the knowledge you receive
from this is immensely valuable,” he said.
“With the economy the way it is now, it is challenging.”