 AHRDA holders partner with businesses, educational institutions, the public sector, governments, and private industry to give their clients fuller access to employment and training opportunities. Improving Aboriginal skills and learning is a national challenge, and requires the involvement of all these players. Partnerships can vary in size and scope depending on the needs being met.
Aboriginal youth are members of the fastest growing segment of Canada's population. Half of all Aboriginal people in Canada are under the age of 25. Over the next twenty years, about 400,000 will enter the job market.
By 2004, 70 percent of all new jobs will require some sort of post-secondary education. The need for knowledge and skills is a reality of the new economy. Canada is facing a shortage of skilled workers caused by a generation of baby boomers retiring. A skilled Aboriginal workforce is part of the solution.
Large resource companies are taking steps to invest in their future human resource needs. Through partnerships, they are beginning to offer education and training opportunities to better recruit and retain employees. The ultimate goal is long-term, full-time employment.
This is one area where partnerships can work to everyone's benefit. AHRDA holders have willing and able candidates for job training, and businesses often have additional training funding, on-the-job training opportunities, and potential employment opportunities.
An example of a large-scale partnership is the Voisey's Bay project in Labrador. This project includes the development of the Inco nickel deposit in Labrador, and a hydrometallurgical processing plant in Argentia, on the Avalon Peninsula. Voisey's Bay will create more than 1,000 direct jobs, especially for Aboriginal people. Under the AHRDS, HRSD agreed to provide new funding of up to $25 million over a five-year period, for an Aboriginal skills development plan related to the project. To proceed with the project, Inco negotiated with the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as entered into impacts and benefits agreements with the Labrador Inuit Association and the Innu Nation.
The goal of HRDC's participation in the development of an employment plan for Voisey's Bay is to ensure the maximum employment of Aboriginal people in the project. This will be done in partnership with local Aboriginal groups, and in collaboration with local employers, the provincial government, and other interested parties. To learn more about large-scale partnership opportunities, such as Voisey's Bay, visit our Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnerships (ASEP) Web page.
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