FINDING WORKERS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Tapping into labour pool key to growth
Industry leaders like PotashCorp and Cameco are looking to the aboriginal workforce to help fill their labour needs.
Lyle Acoose grew up on Ochapowace Cree Nation never realizing PotashCorp operated a major mine only 45 minutes away from his community in southeast Saskatchewan.
That is until he actually began work with the firm a few years back.
“I knew there was a mine in Rocanville, and I played hockey against kids from the community when I was younger, but until I got a summer job I didn’t really know anything about PotashCorp or its impact on the communities in which it operates,” says the human resources specialist with the Saskatoon-based multinational mining firm, the largest producer of potash in the world.
“At the time I didn’t know anybody from my community who worked for the mine, but that certainly has changed.”
Today the company of more than 5,000 employees — mostly in Saskatchewan — pays much more attention to ensuring it has a high profile in the province’s aboriginal communities. And that includes a formalized ambassador program among its First Nation and Métis employees to get out the message that there’s a bright future in the province’s mining industry.
In fact, Saskatchewan’s mining industry — among the largest in Canada — is focused more than ever on reaching out to the aboriginal communities because in order to grow it needs to tap into this increasingly important labour pool, says Leanne Bellegarde, director of aboriginal strategy at PotashCorp.
“The demographics of the province are really compelling,” she says. “There are about 1.1 million people here and about 17 per cent of the population is First Nations and Métis, but that’s projected to be about a third of the population by 2025.”
Bellegarde, who is First Nations, previously worked at the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business where she was director of aboriginal initiatives before PotashCorp seconded her for a six-month term to develop its aboriginal strategy. That was almost five years ago.
Like other major employers in the province, the company faces a constant challenge finding qualified workers, particularly when it comes to trades and professionals. Consequently, it often looks out of province for new hires.
But now firms are looking more to First Nations and Métis communities as a source of workers today and even more so in the future. Still, there are significant obstacles for both mining companies and aboriginal communities, Bellegarde says.
“Right now, we don’t hire anybody who hasn’t got a Grade 12 education at a minimum,” she says. “And the problem we face is about 50 per cent or more of the aboriginal population is not getting a Grade 12 education, so by in 2025 that’s a significant part of the population that doesn’t meet our minimum requirement.”
Efforts are underway to improve educational and economic outcomes among the province’s aboriginal population, including government initiatives such as the Métis Energy and Resource Program, administered by the Clarence Campeau Development Fund.
Formed in 1997, the fund has provided $43 million in funding and leveraged an additional $124 million in private capital for projects involving Métis businesses in the province.
And the mining industry is a major focus.
Yet Steve Danners, director of the Métis Energy and Resource Program, says the industry has been slow to include Métis in their hiring and procurement strategies.
“It’s not to say that there aren’t initiatives going on, because there are, but it can be tough for us because a lot of what goes on with resource companies and aboriginal groups generally focuses on First Nations.”
Part of this problem is summed up as a lack of knowledge about the Métis people.
Foreign multinationals are often uninformed at first of the Métis’ importance in Canada’s historical and social fabric.
Yet progress is being made. Two of the world’s largest uranium miners — Saskatoon-based Cameco and French multinational Areva — recently signed a $200-million deal with the Pinehouse and Kineepik Métis, involving employment and training opportunities.
In 2014, 45 per cent of Cameco’s northern workforce — a total of 1,250 people — were of aboriginal descent. According to the company, that makes Cameco Canada’s largest industrial employer of aboriginal workers.
Danners is quick to point out the most significant barrier is still training. Not enough Métis have the required education and experience to reap the available job opportunities.
That too is changing as companies focus more on aboriginal training initiatives, including more scholarships and school events aimed at raising interest in science- and math-related career paths, Acoose says.
Yet often the most effective recruitment tool is the new generation of skilled workers and professionals of aboriginal descent — like Acoose — who are role models for others to follow.
“I let the younger people in my community know they shouldn’t be scared of success,” he says. “Because once they’ve committed themselves to whatever educational journey they want to pursue, they will certainly find it.”