Kugluktuk develops five-year plan
Kerry Mcluskey
Northern News Services
Kugluktuk (Apr 16/01) - For the last eight years, residents of this Kitikmeot community have watched as jobs they could have held went to people from other communities.
As the paycheques were cashed by southerners and people residing in other Northern locations, about 120 of the 390 households in Kugluktuk continued to depend on some form of social assistance.
Community leaders want that to change.
"Since 1992, the start of the diamond rush, there's been a fair amount of mineral exploration activity in and around the Kugluktuk area," said Alex Buchan, the Hamlet's manager of community development.
"We've noticed over the last eight years that we haven't seen as much employment as we thought," he said.
To ensure the benefits stay in their community, Hamlet officials created a three-phase employment plan. With $30,000 from the Department of Community Government and Transportation they began a five-year labour market study.
In the first year, they identified jobs that were available and the skills people need. The second phase will result in training programs being developed to provide residents with the skills needed to get the jobs. The third and final phase will develop a five-year community employment plan.
Phase one
The first phase of the study is now complete and information was published in an interim report.
Buchan said 54 businesses and government organizations were interviewed and 864 jobs identified, most in the mining industry.
"The big labour market is the mineral industry," said Buchan.
"There's close to 600 jobs available in the mineral industry in the Kugluktuk area. When Tahera begins to operate, we can add those jobs," he said. Tahera Corp. owns the Jericho diamond property in Nunavut near Contwoyto Lake.
The next step is to find out what training is needed to allow Kugluktuk residents to qualify for the work that's available. Buchan said the next two phases would be completed by the middle of the summer.
Trade school
One possibility is to establish a trades school in the community. Buchan said the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) expressed an interest in doing that.
Buchan also said officials needed to develop an approach that would help get residents ready to participate in such training programs.
He said the goal is to boost the workforce and help people achieve independence.
"I would be happy in five years if we managed to cut our social assistance in half," said Buchan.
