Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 08/02) - There are not enough people living in the North to fulfil a growing and dynamic job market.

That was the message from David Stewart, territorial statistician for the NWT Bureau of Statistics, who attended a career exposition at Sir John Franklin high school Wednesday.

"What we're looking at in 30,000 job opportunities over the next 10 years," said Stewart.

"The labour demand is going to outstrip our population supply."

That means there will be more people moving North to fill the job market and there is ample opportunity for Northern students to find employment.

"The NWT has the highest employment rate of all the provinces and the territories. Trades would be a big factor in that," said Stewart.

That was one reason Sir John decided to focus on trades for this year's exposition.

Meike Cameron, Sir John principal, said the school always does well academically and is routinely oriented on university and college options.

"The focus of this exposition is to broaden the scope of student thinking in our school. Schools are traditionally seen as academic only, but they are so much more. Many people live very fulfilled, happy and financially rewarding lives without a degree," said Cameron.

With that in mind Stewart is still a strong advocate of some kind of secondary education.

"Sixty-five per cent of the jobs require post-secondary education. Education is the key even in a very hot job market," he said.

Grade 11 student Kristi Tremblett agreed with the need for a well-rounded education.

"I honestly think university is the way to go, either way. If you want to do a trade do it later and get your education first," she said.

Tremblett and peer Nadine Schiavone were among some high school students who went on a ride-a-long with the RCMP on Wednesday. Both are looking at pursuing careers in the field of law.

"(Career expositions) are pretty important because lots of people our age don't know what they want to do," said Schiavone.