Tribal Councils, Province, Feds Sign MOU on Labour

Tribal Councils, Province, Feds Sign MOU on Labour

Friday, March 11, 2011 at 14:45

 

 

Five of the province’s tribal councils signed a memorandum of understanding this morning with the federal and provincial governments with a goal of increasing the participation of First Nations people in the labour force.

 

Called the “Active Measures MOU,” it looks at partnerships, programs and policies that will increase employment, decrease income assistance dependency on reserves and create incentives for individuals to pursue skills training.

 

Meadow Lake Tribal Chief Eric Sylvestre says a quality education on-reserve that is equivalent to an off-reserve one is vital, and says more funding needs to be provided to address that issue.

 

The MOU is supposed to look at ways to not duplicate services between the three levels of government.

 

It is also an open MOU so the remaining tribal councils are still welcome to sign on.

 

The province came under fire from the Opposition NDP this week when an economist from the University of Saskatchewan said Aboriginal employment numbers were down drastically when comparing January 2009 to January 2010.

 

NDP First Nations and Metis Relations Critic Warren McCall believes the province’s decision to cancel the Aboriginal Employment Development Program contributed to that, noting it was cancelled during that time.

 

However, the province says Aboriginal employment numbers are on the rise. It says there was an increase of 700 jobs in last month, and says February marks 10 consecutive months of year-over-year employment growth for First Nations and Métis people.

 

The province goes on to say employment for First Nations and Métis youth was up by 1,700, or 26.2 per cent, marking seven consecutive months of year-over-year increases.