QIKIQTANI/BAFFIN ISLAND
Iron ore production at the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. Mary River mine may have began last month, but a recently filed labour market analysis concludes most mine jobs will go south.

The Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. camp at Milne Inlet. Worker's housed on site will be mostly from the south, according to a new labour market analysis. - photo courtesy Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.

The Sept. 25 labour market report, prepared by FHW Consulting, based in Oakville, Ont., describes a deficit of available, skilled Nunavummiut to fill most of the jobs the mine is expected to create.

According to the report, almost 80 per cent of jobs created at the Mary River mine site and in Milne Inlet will be taken by out of territory, fly-in-fly-out workers.

The Mary River mine, according to the report, is expected to generate an estimated 410 jobs between the mine site, the port at Milne Inlet, and at corporate headquarters in Ontario.

The vast majority of jobs - 365 - will be in Mary River or Milne Inlet.

Forty-one of those jobs are designated as low-skill and requiring nothing more than on-the-job training. All of those positions, according to the report, are expected to be filled by Inuit or local non-Inuit workers.

The majority of the remaining 326 jobs between the Mary River and Milne Inlet sites will require at minimum a high school diploma or occupation specific training. Of those jobs, 177 will require higher level college or apprenticeship training.

Based on estimates of the qualified and not otherwise employed resident population, nearly 80 per cent of those jobs - an estimated 260 - will go to a non-resident fly-in-fly-out labour pool, likely based in southern Ontario.

The report's author referred request for comment to Baffinland, but company management were not immediately available for comment.

Qikiqtani Inuit Association director Olayuk Akesuk said the report would form part of ongoing employment assessments for the mine under the impact benefit agreement.

"While the figures in the report are low, the expectation is that there will be a collective effort with Baffinland to increase these numbers," Akesuk said in an email to Nunavut News/North.

"It is important to understand a key objective within the Mary River IIBA (Inuit impact benefit agreement) is to maximize Inuit participation over time. This starts in 2014 with mining operations and the development of a Inuit Human Resource Strategy. QIA believes the commitment to continuously seek ways to improve Inuit participation is a message that should not be lost when reading this report, especially as Mary River is projected to be a multi-generational mine."

The report also pointed backward to the project definition phase of 2007 to 2009 that generated 1.3 million hours of labour. Of that, 400,000 hours were provided by 265 North Baffin residents, and 212 Iqaluit residents.

As well, the report noted that of more than 600 job applicants tracked during that period, less than 30 per cent had their grade 12 diploma or equivalent.

Through its impact benefit agreement, Baffinland is committed to meeting Inuit employment goals, with priority given to Inuit from the communities of Pond Inlet, Igloolik, Clyde River, Hall Beach, and Arctic Bay. No specific number has yet been attached to that employment goal.

This priority extends from unskilled positions straight through to senior management.

As part of meeting its obligations, Baffinland must post job vacancies for 28 days in the above named communities, as well as on the job site, before moving on to hiring from other locations.

There is an exemption to this requirement where no qualified local applicants are expected.