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IQALUIT - Public and private sector representatives from fields such as education, trades, health, human resources and commerce met last week in Iqaluit to exchange ideas on issues of Inuit employment, training, recruitment and retention.

The Aboriginal Human Resource Council’s Nunavut Workforce Connex forum on March 2 and 3 involved more than 80 individuals from organizations such as Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Nunavut Arctic College, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, First Air, Qulliq Energy and the Government of Nunavut, as well as several municipalities and various development agencies across Nunavut.

Electrician Joe Sageatok, left, and Albert Netser, one of the first Inuk journeymen linesmen, talk about their experiences getting into the trades at the Workforce Connex Nunavut forum last week in Iqaluit. - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

Albert Netser, one of the first Inuit to become journeyman linesman, said young people today need to be more informed about different career options.

“I do wish for the younger generation, for education to kick in there and say, ‘You know, there’s these wonderful jobs out there that you guys could pursue and have a goal,’” he said.

Netser described his experiences in entering the trades and going through the apprenticeship program with Qulliq Energy.

“It’s a good journey to here,” he said. “The thing is, I didn’t even know what a journeyman linesman was. I didn’t know what a linesman did or what the poles on the road were doing out there until my father-in-law told me that there’s a position opening for apprentice linesmen. He said I should try for it.

“Four years later, just (two out of seven of us) made it through, pulled it though, and all the extra hard work and so forth for everybody else paid off.”

Delegates participated in a number of discussion groups and roundtables, brainstorming around issues such as barriers to Inuit workforce participation, recruitment and retention challenges and potential for partnership in advancing training and education initiatives.

Keynote speaker Eva Aariak spoke of several initiatives of the Government of Nunavut to help advance Inuit participation in the workforce, including investing in training and developing its own staff.

“This month alone, staff are registered in courses from introduction to computers to advanced Inuktitut,” she said. “Our staff are enrolled in two-year internships where they receive on-the-job training and have comprehensive learning plans guiding their education and skills development.”

Recruitment and retention of Inuit is also a priority for the government, said Aariak. Of a total 3,859 positions within the government, 52 per cent are currently filled by Inuit employees – a number the premier would like to see increase.

“We have a certain target group to meet and we are still very much strongly gearing to meet that,” she said. “We need to help our Inuit prospective employees at any level to help them get proper training, to help them to graduate at the high school and help them and support them at all levels of their gaining skills and knowledge to do the work that needs to be done in Nunavut.”

With cabinet setting a priority to improve the efficiency of the government hiring process, Human Resources is now looking at ways to speed up the process to fill the demand in the workplace, said Aariak, adding that such improvements would not have a negative effect on Inuit hiring initiatives.

“As long as Inuit are qualified to do the work that they are seeking, they will be fully recognized,” she said.

Investing in trades

With federal funding for new housing projects, the government is also investing in trades training through apprenticeships as well as the creation of a trades school in Rankin Inlet.

“Construction begins this spring and programs are being piloted as we speak,” Aariak announced. “By the fall of 2010, we’ll open the doors to new students.”

Aariak also told several success stories of Inuit who had found their niche in the workforce.

“In all cases, it is training and education that is the link between Nunavummiut, good jobs and wellness,” she said. “We know of a young woman who studied tirelessly and impressed her college instructors and she aspired to become a deputy minister and she did that and more. She is now our federal minister for Health as the first Inuk in federal cabinet. And I think that really illustrates how far Inuit can go if the aspiration is there.”

And yet, in terms of training and education, traditional and artistic skills are just as valuable as those obtained in college or university, Aariak added.

“I value as equal those traditionally-educated adults for their sewing and hunting skills,” she said. “I consider artists with their creative mind and hours of practice as trained and skilled as any other professional. In all cases, it is training and education that is the link between Nunavummiut, good jobs and wellness. We know this is to be true.”