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Thank you for the kind introduction, John, and for your warm welcome.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to be here in Regina.
Saskatchewan is starting to feel like home. A few weeks back I was in the province to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Whitecap Dakota First Nation. I was here in June to participate in the fourth national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and before that I helped to kick off your commemoration of the bi-centennial of the War of 1812. Most recently I was here for the Back to Batoche celebrations.
I'm pleased to see so many business people, industry representatives, Aboriginal leaders, and elected officials here. What I have come to talk about is important to all of us, and we all have a role to play in addressing it.
I'm talking about our government's number one priority: economic growth and job creation.
I'm happy to say that on both fronts Canada is in good shape, especially when we look at the situation facing countries around the world. We have fared better than most in weathering the economic storm of recent years.
Since 2006, the Harper government has worked hard to support the security and prosperity of Canadians, and to promote business investment, economic growth and job creation across the country.
In Saskatchewan, demand for natural resources, coupled with your strong economic foundation, leaves you well positioned for further growth, for greater investment and sustained job creation.
Saskatchewan is expecting growth of about three percent this year – the second highest in the country. Well-paying jobs are being created, and the provincial unemployment rate is expected to drop below five percent during the next year.
Saskatchewan is a place of opportunity, with people from across and outside of Canada to find work, invest, start businesses and raise a family.
And why wouldn't they? Saskatchewan's economic growth has created demand for labour and meeting that demand is pushing you to look outside of your borders. As a result, the province has become a net recipient of migration from elsewhere in Canada, reversing a decades-long trend. The province is also attracting close to ten thousand international immigrants annually.
Despite this, you still don't have enough skilled people to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow. The Saskatchewan Labour Market Commission estimates that the province will have a labour shortfall of one-hundred-and-twenty thousand workers by 2020. I've heard estimates of twenty-one thousand mining jobs in Saskatchewan going unfilled in the next few years. A labour shortage could stall growth and prevent Saskatchewan from reaching its full economic potential. That's not good for you, in this room, nor is it good for Canada.
Our challenge is straightforward: How to fill future job vacancies with skilled workers and allow economic growth to continue. This is an issue not just for Saskatchewan, but for all Canadians, and the solution must include Canada's Aboriginal population.
The Aboriginal population is the fastest-growing segment in the country, increasing at twice the rate of the broader Canadian population. By 2026, it's expected to rise to more than one-point-five million, with forty percent of that number under the age of twenty-five.
According to a recent Conference Board of Canada report, between 2001 and 2026, more than six-hundred thousand young Aboriginal men and women will enter the Canadian labour market. In the next five years alone, some one-hundred-and-fifty-five thousand Aboriginal people will reach working age.
These numbers are particularly relevant in Saskatchewan. At fifteen percent of the population, your province has one of Canada's highest concentrations of Aboriginal people.
Given the proximity of Aboriginal communities to resource development projects they are ideally placed to contribute to and benefit from large economic projects.
I know from speaking with private sector leaders in the province that there is a tremendous appetite for increasing Aboriginal participation in the labour market. One major Saskatchewan company executive told me recently that he sees the Aboriginal portion of his workforce as a competitive advantage. As a result, they are investing in training and apprenticeships.
And yet, when you look at social assistance levels in Saskatchewan it is clear that the Aboriginal population represents an opportunity that has not yet been fully tapped. Currently, the on-reserve dependency rate – those who receive income assistance – sits at approximately forty-seven percent, while the broader provincial dependency rate is around four-point-three percent.
This phenomenon is not unique to Saskatchewan, either. When we look across the country the average provincial dependency rate is around five-point-three percent, while the average on-reserve dependency rate is over thirty-six percent.
Our government recognizes that there is an opportunity here that must be seized. Doing nothing will subject another generation of Aboriginals to lives of poverty and dependency, while seizing on the untapped potential of the young Aboriginal population will allow us to break the cycle of dependency and meet the labour needs of Saskatchewan and Canada.
Since 2006, we have made substantial investments to improve the opportunities for Aboriginals to participate more fully in the labour market. Currently, we invest more than $400 million annually in direct funding for Aboriginal skills development and training, which is in addition to the nearly $2 billion that our government invests in training through provincial and territorial Labour Market Development Agreements that are accessible to all Canadians.
Since 2007, my department has invested close to $10 million in Saskatchewan to support over seventy active measures projects, including multi-year capacity building projects with five Tribal Council partners, the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies and the File Hills Employment Centre.
I know that we have also created a Senior Steering Committee that engages First Nation leaders to help guide active measures initiatives. This forum now includes the leadership of five Tribal Councils, representing more than half of the province's First Nations.
We look forward to continuing our work together. We can learn from the successes we've seen in Saskatchewan and look for ways to better harness the power of the private sector through partnerships.
The private sector remains vital to the long-term prosperity of our country, and our government is doing its part to encourage private sector investment and development. Our “One Project, One Review” responsible resource development policy will allow companies to operate at the speed of business, while enhancing environmental protection and ensuring sustainable development.
We've also invested in modernizing the lands management regimes for First Nations so that they can unlock the potential of their lands and natural resources.
Last Spring we committed to a strategy for re-opening and expanding the First Nations Land Management Regime. We developed a new Operational Funding Formula in collaboration with the First Nation Land Advisory Board, and developed an application process for identifying First Nations with the greatest potential to benefit from the economic development opportunities associated with the Regime. We've expanded the Regime to include more First Nations from across Canada; these First Nations can now assume management of their reserve land and resources so that they may pursue economic opportunities, without the impediments of the Indian Act, and operate at the speed of business today.
And because we know that a good education is key to a good job, our government has made significant investments in First Nations education.
Since 2006, we have built 37 new schools and carried out major renovations to 22 more. We have also set aside an incremental $175 million for school infrastructure over the next three years, and an additional $100 million for literacy and numeracy programming. This is in addition to the $1.5 billion we spend annually on First Nations education. We've also signed memoranda of understanding with First Nations and governments in five provinces, including the Government of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Tribal Council.
The partnership agreement in your province will lead to improvements in the quality of education for over 1,000 students in seven band-operated schools and more than 10,000 First Nation students who attend provincial schools.
The Tribal Council is already using the agreement to develop initiatives on student retention, family and community engagement and ongoing partnership development. Whitecap Dakota First Nation is creating a new governance system for its schools. And agreement partners are setting up an industrial trades and employment partnership that's expected to create 2,500 training opportunities.
Our government and the Assembly of First Nations also launched a national panel on First Nation education. In response to its recommendations, we'll work with willing partners to have a First Nation Education Act in place for the start of the 2014 school year. The new act will establish the structure and standards needed to support accountable education systems on reserves. We'll also explore a better way to ensure First Nation elementary and secondary schools receive stable and sustainable funding.
The Joint Task Force on Aboriginal Education and Employment that your provincial government just set up will also help prepare us for the future. The task force will work with partners to identify practical, grass-roots solutions that eliminate the current gaps in education and employment outcomes for First Nation and Métis people in Saskatchewan.
Let me say a further word about Métis people in Saskatchewan. Our government have been working closely with Métis here and across the West to boost economic development. The most visible result of our teamwork is the series of regional Métis economic development sessions currently underway to inform a future Métis Economic Development Accord. This accord will set out the steps we'll take to accelerate economic development by Métis people. A key one will be to focus existing government funding on helping Métis-owned businesses forge partnerships, find workers and uncover opportunities for growth.
Of course, government doesn't have all of the answers. Organizations such as yours play vital roles in equipping young Aboriginal people with the knowledge, skills and work experience they need.
I'm pleased that the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce has stepped up to the plate. Under the leadership of John Hopkins, your group is organizing job fairs that bring together employers hungry for workers and workers hungry for jobs.
I also know that many Chamber members are involved with the Regina Trades and Skills Centre, which helps young people gain entry-level skills in key trades such as plumbing, electrical work and drywall installation. Best of all, some forty percent of the graduates are young Aboriginal men and women.
We're also right in the middle of a series of six regional roundtables that are being used to bring together senior leaders from Canada's Aboriginal communities, natural resources industries, and provincial, territorial and federal governments. People are using them to reach two main goals: first, identify the exact obstacles that prevent Aboriginal people from participating fully in major mining, oil and natural gas projects; and second, share existing best practices and develop new solutions that enable Aboriginal people to overcome the obstacles to participation they face.
In the months and years to come, we will continue to work with willing partners to find new solutions, uncover opportunities, share best practices and improve our methods as we learn what works best.
I urge all of you here today to work with us. Let's make sure more Aboriginal teens graduate from high school and move on to higher education. Let's empower more First Nation communities by removing obstacles that prevent them from playing their rightful role in our country's long-term prosperity. Let's help many more Aboriginal people get fulfilling jobs and start meaningful careers. Each person in this room can be an important contributor to these significant goals. Let's keep Saskatchewan's economy going strong for many, many years to come.
Thank you.
