First Nations focus for B.C. jobs plan

VANCOUVER — Jobs Minister Shirley Bond says the Liberals’ jobs plan is working but she’s added a few more pillars to prop it up, including a sector just for First Nations.

Bond released an update on the plan Tuesday, including a renewed economic blueprint for the province that makes specific mention of aboriginal participation in the economy.

First Nations, international trade, small business and manufacturing sectors join eight existing key sectors, such as agrifoods, forestry and energy.

“It isn’t that we haven’t done it before,” Bond said. “We’ve made that part of the jobs plan, but I think it’s appropriate now to look at how we engage their workforce, how we support their economic endeavours so it will be a new highlight of the jobs plan.”

The resource development landscape across Canada has changed dramatically since a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in June recognized land-title rights for the Tsilhqot’in Nation in the B.C. Interior.

The focus on First Nations is one of the few bright spots in the three-year update, said Opposition New Democrat jobs critic Shane Simpson. The jobs plan has been a failure, he said. The Liberals said the province has gained 55,000 jobs since the plan was announced in 2011, but the NDP says B.C. has lost almost as many.

The net gain of private-sector jobs was 2,800, Simpson said.

B.C. had the second-worst job numbers in Canada and the third-worst wage growth numbers, he said.