Building on sustainable First Nation employment.

• Author: Larmour, Adelle
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: TIMMINS

Maximizing opportunities for First Nations to create sustainable employment through education and training is proving successful in five James Bay coastal communities.

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By mid December, 2006, up to 229 First Nations individuals were trained through the James Bay Employment Training (JBET) board under a $7.87 million three-year training project, says Phil Sutherland, JBET's executive director.

Training began in April, 2006, and is scheduled until March 31,2009, for band members in Peawanuk, Fort Albany, Moose Factory, Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat. Encouraged with the numbers to date, close to one-third of their original 1,020-person training target is complete. Sutherland says a third of those individuals have obtained employment either at De Beers Canada Victor site or with related contractors.

De Beers Canada public & corporate affairs manager Tom Ormsby says as of December, 2006,297 of the 700 person-construction workforce currently on site were First Nations. Although the numbers change depending on the nature of the construction, he adds 70 per cent of the total workforce, since construction began, has been from Northern Ontario and more than 400 persons have been First Nations.

"We are trying to increase capacity for those looking for work on long-term jobs on the Victor site," Ormsby says. "We'll continue to work with James Bay Employment Training to try and identify the right programs and candidates, and continue to build that capacity"

Funded under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program, contributing players are the Federal ($7.87 million) and Provincial (up to $1.4 million) governments, the Mushkegowuk Employment Training Services operated by the Mushkegowuk Council ($1 million), and De Beers Canada, which contributed $1.5 million.

Additionally, De Beers provided $800,000 toward the training centre in Attawapiskat, and $130,000 toward the Books and Home program, which has delivered almost 6,000 books to approximately 1,600 students within the five communities, a proactive approach to increase literacy.

Sutherland is pleased with the various levels of government working together to address the skill shortages in the communities in the Far North.

"This opportunity is something we'll likely see once in a lifetime."

Focused on meeting the educational shortfalls with the five communities, Sutherland says a lot of the communities are experiencing a high level of inadequate education with 95...