Monday, August 15, 2022
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Building on Aboriginal success in natural resource sector employment: MLI paper by Ken Coates

December 10, 2015
in Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources, Indigenous Affairs papers, Indigenous Affairs Program, Latest News, Papers, Releases
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A

AboriginalResources-8-774x427-12-15

coatesskillspapercoverMLI Senior Fellow lays out next steps for integrating Aboriginal Canadians into the natural resource sector workforce

OTTAWA, Dec. 10, 2015 – Natural resource companies have made great progress in employing thousands of Aboriginal Canadians across the country, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow Ken Coates finds in a new paper.

The change just isn’t happening as fast as is needed for First Nations workers.

“The simple reality is that for many Aboriginal communities, resource development is the only significant hope for Indigenous employment”, he writes.

Coates examines how best to integrate Aboriginal Canadians into the mining and oil and gas industries in “Unearthing Human Resources: Aboriginal Skills Development And Employment In The Natural Resource Sector”.

To read the full paper, click here.

Global downturn

Aboriginal Canadians found success – to a degree that would surprise many Canadians –  in the natural resource sector for many years.

Companies reap the benefits from hiring First Nations employees, including workforce stability and insights into local weather and living conditions. It was also an opportunity for companies to provide benefits for Aboriginal communities that offer up land for development.

“The simple reality is that for many Aboriginal communities, resource development is the only significant hope for Indigenous employment”

But further improvement could be a major challenge with the the with the recent downturn in oil prices which has sent the sector into a tailspin.

Ken Coats“For Aboriginal workers, communities and companies, the downturn happened after more than a decade of rapid expansion in employment and business collaboration, stalling one of the most extensive examples of Indigenous involvement in the Canadian market economy”, writes Coates.

Now the question is: How can natural resource companies, and prospective Aboriginal employees, regain the momentum?

Barriers to Aboriginal employment

The slump in oil prices is just one barrier to Aboriginal Canadians finding more jobs in the natural resource sector.

Local Aboriginals frequently come to a job interview without the necessary skills. Resource companies, governments and post-secondary institutions have banded together to offer skill and training programs, but these have yet to coalesce into a strategy that yields even and predictable outcomes.

Lots of resource projects, in particular mining activities, are frequently short-term in nature, creating a mismatch with Aboriginal Canadians who prefer stable, well-paid employment.

And many Aboriginal Canadians, even after they are hired to work on natural resource projects, frequently hold low-skill positions – an issue that will only become more pronounced in the coming years as the resource sector switches to more automation.

Finding solutions

Resolving these issues will be important, says Coates: the Aboriginal labour force population is growing more than three times faster than other Canadians. By 2020, the population will be bigger than 1.1 million people.

Coates offers several recommendations, including:

  • Give the communities time to respond to opportunities: Many companies now only launch training, skills development and employment efforts at the time a project begins in earnest. It needs to be done a decade in advance.
  • Emphasize regional, rather than community, workforces: Natural resource projects go through many different phases, meaning no one community is assured of work in the sector. Areas like the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario should band together on workforce development.
  • Collect better data: Too little is known about Aboriginals working in the natural resource sector.
  • Improve career readiness: Finding workers who have the right attitudes for work is the most serious challenge facing Aboriginals seeking employment in the natural resources sector.
  • Combine skills preparation initiatives: The preparation of Aboriginal people for work is too important to founder on conflict between Aboriginal communities, companies, governments and post-secondary institutions.

***

Ken Coates is a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation in the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Join us in 2015 as we celebrate our 5th anniversary.

For more information, please contact Mark Brownlee, communications manager, at 613-482-8327 x105 or email at mark.brownlee@macdonaldlaurier.ca.

Tags: Aboriginal CanadaKen CoatesNatural resourcesskills
Previous Post

MLI’s Speer and Leuprecht lay the groundwork for a sustainable Canadian refugee policy

Next Post

Guaranteed annual income the wrong solution to a complex problem: Brian Lee Crowley in the Globe

Related Posts

Five reasons you should care about Ukraine: Jakub Ferencik for Inside Policy
Europe and Russia

It is Amnesty International and Russia, not Ukraine, that are putting civilian lives at risk: Sarah Teich and Shuvaloy Majumdar in the National Post

August 12, 2022
St-Laurent and the Revitalization of Rural Canada: Ken Coates for Inside Policy
Domestic Policy Program

The resurgence of rural Canada: Philip Cross in the Financial Post

August 12, 2022
Facebook isn’t going to save you, newspapers: Peter Menzies in the Line
Columns

Facebook isn’t going to save you, newspapers: Peter Menzies in the Line

August 11, 2022
Next Post
Brian Lee Crowley

Guaranteed annual income the wrong solution to a complex problem: Brian Lee Crowley in the Globe

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.