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Week 5: Insights into Supporting Indigenous Canadians
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Indigenous Canadians represent our strongest source of future workers in Canada and yet their employment, education and labour market outcomes lag behind their non-Indigenous counter-parts.
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This said, you might be questioning why they represent our strongest source of future employment. Let's take a look at where we expect to gather future workers.
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Our largest population of future workers are young people entering the workforce for the first time. And while nearly 50% of future workers will be young people entering the workforce for the first time, this percentage has been falling for decades and if we were relying exclusively on young people to fill future jobs, not only would our overall workforce continue to shrink year-after-year, so would Canada's population. It is because of a shortage young workers that employers and provinces are looking to immigrants, people moving from other provinces and technology designed to replace workers.
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The next largest group to consider are immigrants who are expected to fill between 25 and 30 per cent of future jobs and yet immigrants present a number of challenges. A portion of immigrants who settle in Canada end up returning to their country of origin or going on to a new country with a more receptive labour market. This has been particularly true as we've seen the cost of living and real estate escalate in recent years.
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Immigrants are also far more likely to settle in larger urban centres which does little to address the labour market challenges present in many smaller or remote communities.
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Indigenous Canadians present benefits unlike any other population in Canada. Our Indigenous population is experiencing far greater growth than any other population in Canada and this is true among First Nations, Metis and Inuit individuals. A higher percentage of youth are therefore Indigenous.
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While a growing portion of Canada's cities are home to Indigenous Canadians, they make up a much larger share of small and rural communities across Canada.
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Furthermore, as part of the Truth and Reconciliation process, First Nations must be consulted in the development of natural resource projects which impact their communities. This often results in employment and training initiatives that create valuable career opportunities.
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Given these factors, it would seem that employment outcomes for Indigenous Canadians has improved significantly. Sadly, this hasn't been the case.
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In the 2021 Census, we saw that Canada's non-Indigenous population maintained an employment rate of 74.1%. Meanwhile the employment rate of Status First Nations persons living on reserve was just 47.2% and the employment rate for those living off reserve was 58.7%.
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Employment outcomes go hand-in-hand with educational outcomes and the training necessary to warrant better career opportunities. According to Statistics Canada, 89.6% of non-Indigenous Canadians have a high-school diploma or its equivalent. By comparison just 52.2% of this same age bracket of First Nations persons living on reserve have completed high school. This goes up to just 73.3% among First Nations individuals living off-reserve.
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With more limited employment and educational outcomes, there are an enormous number of Indigenous Canadians living in poverty. Just 10.7% of non-Indigenous Canadians live in poverty but this jumps to 31.3% for First Nations persons living on reserve and 19.8% for First Nations persons living off reserve.
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It's often said that young people are our greatest national resources, something I whole heartedly believe. But I also believe the data suggests we are squandering the future potential of thousands of young Indigenous Canadians.
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If people miss-out on that first job opportunity; an employment placement in high school or college; and opportunities for mentorship, it impacts how they interact with employers.
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In your conversations with employers, I would encourage you to discuss opportunities to mentor young Indigenous workers. Increasingly, employers are looking for people who are ready to start on day-1 and it might be helpful to remind employers that the person who's ready to start on day-1, they're also able to start with any other employer on day 2. It's mentorship and loyalty to their employers that build trust and return loyalty.
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If you regularly work with Indigenous clients, I would suggest additional training and coaching in fundamental workplace expectations. Similar to other youth, spend time on reinforcing employer expectations, appropriate workplace behaviour and the value in taking initiative.
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Above all, underscore the importance of ongoing training and skills development, whether through stackable micro-credentials, apprenticeship of post-secondary training.
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Future workforce success is directly tied to developing in-demand skills and train-on-the-job occupations are rapidly being eliminated by the encroachment of AI and other forms of automation. If we want to see a noticeable improvement in the employment outcomes of First Nations Canadians, it has to correspond with improved educational outcomes.
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We’ll be discussing the employment outcomes of Indigenous Canadians at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday July 29th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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We're no longer using the Motivating Mondays URL to connect due to security concerns. Instead we're hosting the sessions on a new Teams Link we share in this newsletter each week. On the morning of Monday July 29th, 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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