First Nation youth answer to job shortages in Canada

To the Editor:
Anyone thinking seriously about the future of our region – and Canada – will start asking questions about the education of a key group of youth.
Firstly, Canada’s population is getting older. Retirements will create shortages in many trades and professions. Should governments plan for this? Should they help youth get the education to do those jobs? Most of us see this as a government responsibility.
Secondly, what major group of Canadians is growing the fastest? Which has the youngest average age? Which group has only about two-thirds as many members finishing a post-secondary education?
Look again: a young population, growing fast, with people ready for post-secondary training. This is the profile of Canada’s First Nations. Their median age is 27, compared to non-Aboriginals at 40.
Thirdly, one group of Canadians experiences more poverty, disease, unemployment and bad housing than the average. Should governments be helping these Canadians work their way out of these problems?
Note the question didn’t say ‘solve all these problems for them.’ It also didn’t say ‘treat them like children who can’t manage themselves.’
The question was about offering the support people need to improve their own situation.
OK, let’s review. We need more people with work skills. First Nations people need more education, training and jobs. And there are a lot of them, with more coming.
Governments, and especially the federal government, should be able to put that picture together. Get those youth into training and education programs. But the federal government doesn’t seem to get the connection.
For example, the Post-Secondary Student Support Program provides funds to send First Nations youth to post-secondary training and education. Lawyers, professors, carpenters, miners, teachers and nurses – there are First Nations people in all of those jobs. There could be more.
So why is the government weakening and underfunding this program at the time of greatest need and opportunity? Why keep First Nations youth out of school? We need to be helping employers and First Nations youth, not hindering them.
Here are some facts from a recent report on this:
• First Nations poverty will cost Canada up to $11 billion per year by 2016. Yet the current government is effectively reducing an investment known to rein in poverty.
• Since First Nations took direct control of their post-secondary funding, graduating students increased dramatically from about 3,600 in 1977-78 to 27,500 in 1999-2000.
• A cap was put on post-secondary funding in 1996-97. Does this make sense for the fastest growing group of students in Canada?
• Since that cap, the number served decreased by 20 per cent from 27,500 down to 22,000 in 2008-2009. More than 10,000 students were denied access from 2001 to 2006.
Each year the number of potential students grows. Each year the costs increase. As a result, the number of students who are denied help grows year by year.
The government is ignoring their needs; ignoring Canada’s need for more trained and educated workers. It is ignoring the opportunity to help people improve their own lives and ignoring the opportunity to reduce the need for costly social programs. It is also ignoring the workforce needs of Canadian employers.
For these students, for employers, for taxpayers and for the good of the Canadian economy, I will push the government to make smart investments like these.
This is about common sense. If First Nations youth prosper it will help all of northwestern Ontario to prosper.
Bruce Hyer
MP Thunder Bay-Superior North