In Saskatchewan, there are plenty of job vacancies but getting people trained can be difficult.
While the Premier seeks trained professionals in Ireland, he has also talked about engaging the Aboriginal population.
The University of Regina is taking a hard look at how it can remove barriers to education and make their campus more inclusive.
When student Skyler Anderson is not in class, you can probably find him at the Aboriginal Student Centre.
“It’s a second home. Once (students) come here, they never leave,” he said.
Anderson always knew he wanted to go to university, and after taking a year off after high school, he did, but getting there came with its challenges.
“I got a son, I got my girlfriend pregnant, so I took another year off after that.”
And then there was not enough education funding from his reserve.
“I had to fight to get my living allowance to come here next semester,” Anderson said.
Those are among the many challenges Aboriginal people face when coming to university.
About 10 per cent of the 11,000 students are First Nations and the University of Regina president, Dr. Vianne Timmons, hopes that number will rise dramatically.
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“We are working with the local school district and talking to them on how we can work on transition issues better. We also formed an Aboriginal Advisory Circle,” Timmons said.
Next week, the president along with other Canadian university delegates will travel to Mexico where they face similar challenges.
The group plans to look for possible solutions to this problem.
The chair of the Aboriginal Advisory Circle has made some suggestions.
“Aboriginal faculty would be a good idea. We have very few Aboriginal faculty and that is an area that really needs improving,” said chair David Garneau.
He would like the curriculum to include more Aboriginal elements, but also the university campus itself to reflect its diversity.
“I think that First Nations, Metis, Inuit students know that the institutions are not build for them,” Garneau said.
The president said they will look to places like the First Nations University for inspiration on how to make their campus more inviting to Aboriginal students.
It is all part of a long-plan to address the education and employment gap existing in indigenous communities.
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