SASKATOON – A recent report on employment and education rates among Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan prompted reaction from the Saskatchewan premier.
University of Saskatchewan Professor Eric Howe spoke at a media conference Monday to discuss his report “Employment of First Nations People: Saskatchewan Lags Behind,” which examines long form census statistics from 1996 to 2006.
According to the report commissioned by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), if education and employment rates among First Nations people in the province continue, it could cost Saskatchewan $6.7 billion in gross domestic product.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall weighed in on the findings that suggest our province is lagging behind the rest of the country – with the exception of the Maritimes – when it comes to addressing the needs of First Nations people.
“Mr. Howe referenced the fact that unemployment numbers are too high among First Nations people, among the aboriginal people,” said Wall.
“We acknowledge that in our growth plan and we have real goals around eliminating that gap and also increasing completion rates amongst our aboriginal students by 50 per cent by 2020.”
Even though education rates have generally risen throughout Howe’s report, the findings revealed a remaining disparity between First Nations people compared to the total population.
There still remains a large gap between aboriginals and the rest of the population when it comes to people with educational achievements entering the job market.
Last week, the federal and provincial governments announced an investment of $9.4 million to Northern Career Quest for the training of 800 aboriginal people to work in the mining industry.
Wall says his government has reviewed the Aboriginal Employment Development Program and will not reinstate it, pointing out the 18 year program cost $14.4 million and only created 4,000 jobs.
The premier also stressed the importance of implementing programs that yield real results and the province will continue to address the issue moving forward.
“We are saying to First Nations partners, post-secondary institutions… to tribal councils and to the FSIN, bring us those projects, bring us those ideas that are based on completion rates going up, graduation rates going up and jobs for First Nations and Métis people, but we are not interested in doing the same thing over and over again, it just hasn’t worked for either First Nations or anybody in the province.”
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