Understanding the Early Years - Early Childhood Development in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Appendix A

The Physical Environment

Prince Albert, gateway to northern Saskatchewan, is nestled in the transition between the Grasslands and the Northern Boreal Forest. Its proximity to the north has resulted in "the development of processing, manufacturing and tourism industries.²¹ The North Saskatchewan River borders the city to the north and was a significant trade route historically. Today, it is the centre of Prince Albert's Winter Festival and during the remainder of the year it provides a range of other recreational and cultural opportunities not the least of which is the set of major walkways along its perimeter.

The proximity of many lakes makes Prince Albert and area a tourist centre. A range of recreational activities are available in these areas and many boast year round residence. The northern most boundary of the study area encompasses the beautiful Prince Albert National Park. A number of the commuters (discussed below) represent families who chose to live in the lakes area and commute to their employment. Although these areas provide a rich resource to the residents of Prince Albert and area, economic and transportation factors do not make them equally accessible to all.

The water is generally of high quality and although there are some concerns about the emissions from the pulp and paper mill just east of the city, the air is generally of good quality. The abundance of forest areas as well as Ducks Unlimited Wildlife Preserves surrounding the city makes this area a habitant for an abundance of wildlife. Coupled with the fishing opportunities available at many nearby lakes, this area is a sportsman's paradise.

Concerning the physical environment, the Neighbourhood Observation Instrument indicated that all areas in Prince Albert had either well kept exteriors in good repair or exteriors that were in fair condition; only two of thirty-eight enumeration areas indicated poor conditions with peeling paint and buildings in need of repair. There remain, however, some areas that present growing challenges, albeit they represent less volume than in other major urban centers.

Although the increasing process of urbanization and the concentration of young children in areas with greatest socio-economic challenge pose some serious challenges, the Prince Albert area provides an ideal physical setting for positive development because it provides:

High quality water and good air,
Access to a variety of recreational areas,
Parks and green spaces distributed throughout the city,
Physical properties that are generally well kept, and
An economy that is stable and continues to thrive.

Employment

The expansion of the Prince Albert labour force in 1991 created shortages in several types of skilled labour which resulted in employers recruiting and training women in the industrial sector (op cit., p. 26). The peak of expansion passed and several employers have recently reduced the sizes of their labour forces. This has eased somewhat the housing shortage it created, but has also reduced the number of people reporting full time employment.

There are no strongly dominant occupations in the region demonstrating its "well diversified economy" (op cit., Appendix 1). The combined service sectors account for 47% of the labour force as compared to a provincial rate of 42%. Manufacturing, construction and government services also account for a higher proportion of the labour force than the rest of the province (op cit., p. 20). When one considers both the industry and occupational classifications, the Prince Region is "more diversified than most regions in the province and is well-represented in sectors and occupations that are growing" (op cit., p. 21). The data suggests that this area has a varied labour market to meet the needs of its diversified economy.

Education

The data suggests that the population of Prince Albert does not have a high degree of educational preparation; over half of the population has not had any post-secondary training. This ill equips them to participate in the job market or, at the very least, gives them little flexibility with respect to the type of employment available to them. Furthermore, it means that some young children growing up in this community do not have parents for whom higher education has been a goal.

Stabler and Olfert also note that "the education levels in the region will reflect the occupational and industrial structure of the economy which is actually more highly concentrated in the health and social services and government services industries than the province" (p. 25).

Justice

The Saskatchewan Penitentiary federal site contains three types of facilities: a maximum security facility called the Special Handling Unit (SHU) that houses 78 inmates, a medium security facility that houses 504 inmates (17 of these are women) and a minimum security facility called Riverbend Institute that houses about 100 inmates (personal communication). The combined operating budget for these facilities is $39 million (Thompson, 2001).

The Prince Albert Correctional Centre is a provincial facility for men that presently has 275 inmates and an operating budget of sixteen million dollars (Thompson 2001). Parole Services has an additional operating budget of one million dollars (Thompson, 2001).

Together these services employ 993 staff and have a collective budget of $56 million. In addition, the federal institution alone provided 123,500 man-hours of community service last year (Thompson, 2001).

In addition to the men's facilities described above there are 4 youth facilities for males, two are open custody and two are closed custody. These institutions have a combined capacity of 65; presently there are 50 residents (personal communication).

Finally, there is a women's correctional facility — Pine Grove Women's Correctional Centre —which is a medium-security provincial institution. It has a capacity of 85, but on average in 2000-2001, there were 59 inmates. These data indicate that 83% of the inmates have a grade 11 or less education and 82% are either Status Indian or Metis. Of the 699 inmates, 694 were unemployed at the time of incarceration (Koczka, 2001, pp. 1—3). Personal communication with staff indicates that only one of the nearly seven hundred inmates of the past year had more than a grade 11 education and was not addicted to alcohol and/or drugs.

Housing

The number of one-bedroom rental apartments has increased by 83 units over the past three years while two or more bedroom units have decreased by 61. The average rent has increased from 5 to 10% for apartments depending on the size. In 2000 a one-bedroom apartment rents for $424, a two-bedroom for $486 and a three-bedroom for $521 whereas a bachelor suite rents for $309 (CMHC as cited by Prince Albert Housing Committee, p. 27).

Language

One could argue, and many have cogently done so, that mastery of the mother tongue enables children and adults to learn a second language more readily. From this stance one could posit that it is more advantageous to speak a language other than either official language and then, learn either official language, than it is to speak a non-standard dialect of either official language or have less than good control of the standard dialect.

Teen Pregnancy

If the rates are compared between 1974 and 1994 (69.4 and 63.0 pregnancies respectively per one thousand women in the same age cohort) Saskatchewan has the fourth highest rate, but is only slightly lower than Manitoba. Only the North West Territories and the Yukon exceed these two provinces in teen pregnancy rates (Schaefer, 1999, p. 5).

Compared to older women, pregnant adolescents experience more complications during pregnancy and delivery. Between 1989 and 1994, Saskatchewan females 15 to 19 years of age experienced 16,142 hospitalizations with 57,539 days of hospital stay whereas females 10 to 14 years of age experienced 323 hospitalizations with 1,275 days of hospital stay (Saskatchewan Institute on the Prevention of Handicaps, p. 52). The rates of hospitalization in the 10 to 14 years of age group were more than five times as high for northern and Treaty-Indian adolescents. For the 15 to 19 years of age group the rate was three times as high as the provincial rate for the northern group, and almost four times as high for the Treaty-Indian group. Rural adolescents experienced the lowest rate at half the provincial level while urban adolescents were four-fifths the provincial rate (p. 53).

The figures for the Prince Albert Health District indicate 992 hospitalizations for females 15 to 19 years of age with 3,543 days of hospital stay and 29 hospitalizations with 89 days of hospital stay for 10 to 14 year olds. (Saskatchewan Institute on the Prevention of Handicaps, p. 232).

²¹Stabler, J.C. and Olfert, M.R. (1998). "Prince Albert Planning Area: Selected Economic and Demographic Characteristics", unpublished work commissioned by the Saskatchewan Department of Education for the Saskatchewan Training Strategy, Post-Secondary Education and Skills Training, Appendix. Hereafter referred to as "op cit".

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Understanding the Early Years - Early Childhood Development in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan - April 2002