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Summary - Northern Labour Market Committee (NLMC) meeting
November 28, 2007 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Mandate
Identify and assess emerging labour market and economic development issues
in northern Saskatchewan and recommend or initiate actions that will enable
residents to benefit from training, employment, and economic activities in
their region.
Chaired jointly in 2007-2008 by
1. Northern Affairs Branch, Ministry of First Nations and Métis Relations,
for the provincial government;
2. Athabasca Economic Development and Training Corporation representing Aboriginal
training and economic development agencies; and
3. Northlands College, Western Region, representing training agencies/industry.
Attended by
Decision-makers in training, planning, and economic development including
representatives from federal and provincial governments, school divisions,
training institutions, training funders, economic development agencies, local
and Aboriginal authorities, and private industry.
Agenda
1. Education, Training, and Employment Initiatives
The Northern Apprenticeship Committee (NAC) made a proposal for funding
under the federal Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partners (ASEP) Program.
The Proposal is a multi-party, multi-year, multi-million dollar training and
employment initiative leading to employment for Aboriginal people in the mining,
oil and gas sectors. The proposal includes a training plan with 1400 seats
over 4 years. Twenty-two companies have made commitments to employ about 700
clients under this program. The federal government is reviewing 55 proposals
from across Canada and this one is a strong contender. If approved, the challenge
would be communicating the opportunities and recruiting enough clients to
fill the training seats and employment positions.
The Northern Industrial Career Centre (NICC) assists people to find jobs
by offering services to employers and to job seekers such as career planning,
resume writing, and employment referrals. It is modeled on and managed by
Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies Construction Careers project.
NICC serves the northern region through the career centre in La Ronge, job
coaches who travel to other communities, and school visits. It also serves
distant clients via a live chat room on Keewatin Career Development Corp.
(KCDC) website and toll free phone lines. The centre provides Construction
Safety Training System - the first step to making sure that participants are
'work ready'. For employers, the centre (via KCDC) connects employers with
Saskatchewan Construction Association Planroom website for tendering opportunities.
NorthSask Special Needs, Northlands College, and other agencies are facilitating
a Supported Employment project, a range of services intended to help people
with employment barriers to get and keep real, paid jobs with employers. They
developed a one-month training program to train job developers and job coaches
with the skills to develop funding proposals as well as support the clients
in jobs in their communities. The program will start January 7, 2008, at Northlands
College. Supported Employment projects employ job developers who work with
employers to fill positions with people with disabilities and job coaches
who mentor the worker until the job is learned. In another project, northern
service agencies for people with disabilities are considering the concept
of co-locating all the service providers in a joint facility in the future.
2. Subcommittees' Training and Employment Work Plans
The Administration Subcommittee sets the working direction of the NLMC.
Membership consists of all the chairpersons of the subcommittees. The Subcommittee
revised the operating terms to ensure continuity of the 3-way NLMC chairpersonship
yet allow some flexibility in recruiting chairs and extension of terms until
new co-chairs are selected.
The Northern Apprenticeship Committee's (NAC) role is to indenture people
to apprenticeship trades, support them financially as they proceed through
their training, and link them to employment as a way to help them complete
their journeyperson qualifications. NAC has indentured 22 new apprentices
since July. Since January, 9 clients achieved journeyperson status. Since
NAC was established in 1993, the average number of people attaining journeyperson
status in the north has increased from 4 to about 13 each year. In projects,
NAC completed the Ile a la Crosse Wage Subsidy with Graham Construction on
the school/hospital construction project. Twelve received training and 6 received
a wage subsidy with 4 continuing in their employment with Graham. Wage Subsidy
Phase II runs until January 2008 with 11 people in new apprenticeship positions.
The Oil Sands Subcommittee was formed in 2000 with a mandate of enabling
northern residents to take advantage of employment opportunities in the oil
sands sector. The subcommittee administered the activities of the Northern
Neighbours/Bridges to Employment followed by Job Horizons project. Those employment
referral projects resulted in about 500 residents of the northwest area getting
employment in the Fort McMurray area. With the end of the Job Horizons project
last spring, a proposal was submitted to a number of funding partners under
Northern Development Agreement for a new phase of the project. This new phase
would see some changes, starting with a revamped subcommittee to administer
the project, increased staffing levels, change in staff's employer, changes
to the job referral area to include Saskatchewan oil and gas areas, increased
targets for the number of employment referrals, and expansion of the client
preference area to encompass all of northern Saskatchewan.
The province provided funding for 2007-2008 for the Forestry Training Plan,
which is administered by the Forestry Training Subcommittee. Although activity
in the forest sector is slow, the Subcommittee approved funding for training
proposals for trades training at Meadow Lake, sawmill training at Canoe Lake,
and forestry training with Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Regarding the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with Domtar, the Government of Saskatchewan News Release
of November 30 states that it has notified Domtar that it wants to continue
discussions about the reopening of Domtar's mills in northern Saskatchewan,
but it will not proceed with the MOU, grants, or financing.
The Health Sector Training Committee was formed to address today's skill
shortages and employment opportunities in the health sector in northern Saskatchewan.
Since the last NLMC meeting, the subcommittee procured $70,000 from federal
and provincial governments to hire a consultant to undertake a project this
winter as the initial phase in the development of a multi-party training agreement.
The first phase involves collection of health sector human resource data,
analysis of workforce demographics, identification of training and education
gaps, and recommendations on the development of a business plan for a long-term
training strategy. The consultant's report is due at the end of March. The
subcommittee hopes to have funds in place to begin training in 2009-2010.
In the Traditional Economies sector, the Trappers Association assessed
the need for training in humane trapping methods as required by the European
Union. The Association, with 10 certified humane trapping instructors, requires
about $150,000 to undertake 30 to 60 day training programs including training
allowances. The association will submit a proposal to Northlands College.
Membership from Saskatchewan Cooperative Fisheries Ltd. (SCFL) continues their
plans for a fish processing plant in Prince Albert. The plant requires an
export license in order to increase the plant's feasibility by marketing fish
outside the province themselves rather than selling through Freshwater Fish
Marketing Corp. (FFMC). SCFL studies show that fishers could get more for
their product by marketing in-demand fresh product to the northwest American
continent whereas FFMC only deals with frozen products. SCFL applied for the
license with Department of Fisheries and Oceans in August and is awaiting
a decision. SCFL is requesting $200,000 to do a training plan focusing on
fishers under age 30.
This spring, New North started the two-year Northern Youth Leadership program
led by two youth coordinators. Under the program, youth town councils are
formed to help youth reduce involvement in crime, get youth participating
in their communities, and help them gain leadership skills and self-esteem.
The coordinators hosted the first Annual Youth Town Council (YTC) Leadership
Conference in La Ronge in October. Approximately 120 people participated in
the conference which included guest speakers, community project identification,
and entertainment. Coordinators wrote a report on the conference that identified
a number of barriers and solutions. The Sandy Bay YTC reported that they are
currently putting together a 2008 Sandy Bay calendar that highlights community
members. With the proceeds from calendar sales, the youth will be conducting
a local cemetery clean-up project this spring. Cumberland House YTC reported
that they are doing school canteens and dances to raise funds towards a goal
of purchasing gym equipment and opening a fitness centre and an arcade through
their school.
The goal of the Multi-Party Training Plan (MPTP), administered by the Mineral
Sector Steering Committee, is to increase the number of northern Saskatchewan
residents working at the mines and increase their skill levels. MPTP Phase
3 is in the final year of the 5-year agreement and the Committee is gearing
up to negotiate a fourth phase. In Phase 3 (2003-2008), there have been 1506
enrolments in training. Partners have shared in-kind and expenditures of $15.7M
for programs, training allowances and wages, scholarships and awards, jobs
for summer students, and other education and business promotion initiatives.
79% of enrolments have been students of Aboriginal heritage. Programs planned
for 2007-8 include year 2 of mine technologist, a new intake into radiation
technician, pre-employment welding, level 1 cooking, diamond drill helper,
and 1A truck driver. MPTP awarded a scholarship to a student from La Ronge/Beauval.
The Career Services Subcommittee/KCDC has several projects planned for
2007-8. Breaking Barriers is a series of video conferences that allow students
to connect live by video conferencing to an array of resource people. These
include interviews with industry representatives about careers and with role
models in sports, professions, and entertainment industries. The modules also
benefit industry sponsors who are able to promote careers with their corporations.
About 40 sessions have been held for about 3,000 students. In another project,
KCDC is planning to enhance communication among career offices in the north
by installation of video conferencing capabilities in all career-counseling
offices. The Subcommittee is also planning a meeting of northern career counselors
in January for a discussion of service provision.
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