SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The hesitancy of many southerners to move up North due to the high cost of living - in addition to a lack of skilled Northerners qualified to work underground - has prompted Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. to reinstate Edmonton as a pick-up point for southern hires.

By the middle of this year, Diavik, which is currently transitioning into a completely underground mine, employed 324 southerners - 37 per cent of its overall workforce. - photo courtesy of Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.

The decision has come under fire by Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Ed Sangris (Dettah), who said he fears the move will make it harder for members of his band to obtain work at Diavik, which is transitioning into an all-underground mine.

"They've indicated they want to hire Northern priority hires, and to turn around and start this again is not favourable to us," said Sangris.

"Our people are going to lose because jobs are being taken up by southerners."

In May 2009, Diavik began a pilot project in which it stopped paying for the flights of Diavik workers travelling from Edmonton, the mine's only southern pickup point. The project was meant to bolster the number of NWT-based and aboriginal workers at Diavik.

"Prior to the pilot project, we had very few (southern) individuals who declined employment offers," said Doug Ashbury, spokesperson for Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. "Then we experienced a trend where an increasing number of individuals were declining employment offers.

"When we asked (them) why they declined the employment offer, they cited the high cost of living in the North, particularly housing in Yellowknife. They also cited family reasons - that they would be a long way from home."

The reasons cited by Ashbury come as no surprise in the wake of a 2009 survey of mine workers conducted by the NWT Bureau of Statistics, in which 93.5 per cent of workers at the territory's three diamond mines were interviewed.

Of non-NWT residents, only 6.8 per cent considered moving to an NWT community.

"The cost of living, and the fact that they like their home community, are the two most often cited reasons non-NWT residents don't move to the NWT," the survey said.

At the same time, nearly half of NWT residents said they would be likely or very likely to consider a move from the NWT if the opportunity arose in the next year.

"The cost of living remains the most often cited reasons for considering a move by those currently living in the NWT."

Since Diavik resumed flying in workers in from Edmonton last June, "We're starting to see more individuals accept job offers," said Ashbury.

Diavik's difficulty in finding enough NWT workers with the technical skills required for underground mining was also a factor in the company's decision to resume picking workers up from Edmonton, added Ashbury.

"We're finding it very challenging to find underground miners, journeypersons, skilled trades, professional mining engineers - those types of skills are hard to find in the North. So we're having to go south for those skills."

Diavik's mid-year socio-economic report indicates the mine is currently falling short of its Northern hiring goals.

As of the middle of 2010, Diavik employed a total 872 workers. Out of those, 63 per cent were NWT residents and only 31 per cent were aboriginal - below the 66 per cent and 40 per cent targets set out in the 1999 Socio-Economic Monitoring Agreement signed between Diavik and the GNWT.

Diavik's inability to meet those targets has been impacted by its recent hiring difficulties, said Ashbury.

But Sangris isn't buying it, saying he believes the decision to reinstate Edmonton comes down to a matter of cost.

"At the time of the economic crunch, they said they were not flying out of Edmonton - at least that's their version to us. They wanted to discontinue Edmonton because it was costing them too much. Now that things picked up, they want to pick it up again. Their real intentions? I don't know," said Sangris.

He also accused Diavik of including southern aboriginal residents in its calculation of Northern aboriginal workers.

As Ashbury pointed out, the working definition for "Aboriginal" as set out in the monitoring agreement covers any "Indian, Inuit or Metis person who was born in the Northwest Territories or West Kitikmeot Region."

In addition to Yellowknife and Edmonton, Diavik currently picks up workers in Wekweeti, Gameti, Whati, Behchoko, Lutsel K'e, Kugluktuk, Hay River, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson.

The company is considering adding more communities to that list, said Ashbury.

In addition, Diavik is looking to "significantly" expand the number of Northern apprentices working at the mine, which, as of mid-year, numbered 14, he added.

That's not to mention the work that Diavik has already done to move workers up North, said Bob McLeod, minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

"I think that one of the points that was missed is ... that Diavik made a very concerted effort to increase the number of their workers that were living in the south to move North. I know they've moved a lot of people to the North, mostly in management positions. I think we were successful there," said McLeod.

The GNWT meets on a "fairly regular basis" with the diamond mines to discuss Northern hiring practices, said McLeod.

Among the ideas McLeod will float to them: encouraging the federal government to increase the Northern Residency Tax Deduction, currently $5,400 per year.

The feds last raised that amount by $200 three years ago, and it's time for another increase, said McLeod.

"I think the federal government has to play a bigger role attracting people in the North," said McLeod. "That's something we'll be addressing further when we meet with the mines."

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