Labrador - Aboriginal Human Resource Council

• Voisey’s Bay representative mentioned that
people need to keep their resume up-to-date.
Skills training in this area may be needed
so that information on potential employees
is quickly available. The employer needs
to know what specific pieces of equipment
the employee can operate, how many hours
have been logged on it, etc.
• The Voisey’s Bay project started people in
the unskilled workforce. There are good
levels of employment but feel that many of
the employees were doing cleaning, etc. It
takes time to be a good employee, whatever
the job may be.
• To bid for a job you need to have a
skilled labour force available. And to be
competitive, you need to have an Aboriginal
skilled workforce. At Voisey’s Bay there is a
requirement for 33 per cent of the workforce
to be skilled Aboriginals in order to meet
federal guidelines for Aboriginal businesses.
If you can’t train people on the job, how are
you to develop this workforce
• There is a lack of coordination among
agencies. For example, more than one
group is offering prospecting training.
• Recruitment and retention issues: training is
meaningful employment and will increase
retention. Young people want more than
labour jobs. Voisey’s Bay takes employees
to the job site to see how they function in
that setting before candidates are chosen.
The lifestyle challenges of working on such
a job site can be hard on families. Example:
an Australian lecturer spoke of a mining
project where families were flown in and
included in job site activities to decrease
tension in families caused by the absence
of a parent.
• AHRDA funding should be available all year
long. AHRDAs could train people in winter
but sometimes there is no money left for
training until spring, when work begins.
• There is too much red tape. Service Canada
needs to be more flexible.
• The question was asked as to whether there
was one point of contact for all Labrador
AHRDAs; in fact they are all separate.
The AHRDAs could help significantly with
training in the off-season.
• The two-weeks in/two-weeks out model is
good for families on the coast because they
need to hunt wild meat and cut wood as a
part of their traditional life, and because
food and fuel are so expensive on the coast.
This model is also good because people
are simply unwilling to leave for such long
periods of time. Companies must adjust
to the lifestyle situation. Some people are
accustomed to seasonal work and find it
hard to adjust to working all year.
• Wage subsidy programs work for
some people.
• New employees are not as productive;
employers need to expect them to take time.
Job training funding would be good in these
situations because companies would not
lose out when inexperienced employees are
less productive.
• Lack of communication, coordination and
attention between all organizations.
• Need to have up-to-date and very specific
information, especially on database.
• Need to be able to train on the job as part
of the contract.
• Need company profiles (there is a lack of
awareness in Aboriginal communities).
• Need more effort to recruit.
• Geography (Labrador) travel budget
is limited.
• Balance for skilled workforce vs.
representation from Aboriginal group.
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