Five year plan targets Metis employment

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The Metis Nation of Alberta Association announced Aug. 19 that it has signed a five-year agreement with Human Resources Development Canada to implement an urban Aboriginal employment strategy that a senior MNA official characterized as "unlike any other in Canada."

It will deliver a wide range of labor market programs and services to help off-settlement Metis, especially youth, disabled people and women, to prepare for, obtain and maintain employment.

"Sustainable jobs are necessary if Metis people in Alberta are to achieve independence," MNA President Audrey Poitras said. "We now have great potential for generating good employment and training and our urban Alberta clients are coming in to see us for those prospects as a result of our labor market development initiative," Poitras added.

The 1999-2004 Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement (AHRDA) replaces the Regional Bilateral Agreement (RBA) that operated since 1996. According to MNA's director of federal-provincial initiatives, Lorne Gladue, the AHRDA puts the responsibility for controlling and administering programs and obtaining results absolutely into the hands of the Metis Nation of Alberta. This is not the case with similar RBAs in other provinces, he stated, where control still rests with HRDC.

Gladue explained that prior to 1990, HRDC delivered labor market training; then, in consultation with its regional offices, came up with the Pathways to Success strategy, which was "the first step towards devolution," he said. Both parties - government and in this case the MNA - decided who would be funded for programs, but the governments still had "80 per cent control." Following structural review in 1995 by the secretary of state, three-year RBAs were created which were "a complete devolution of administrative responsibility from the federal government to the Aboriginal community to design and deliver labor market programming," Gladue said.

Five of the country's 54 RBAs are in Alberta. In addition to the MNA, the Metis settlements and Treaties 6, 7 and 8 each have their own.

"At this point in time, not only in terms of dollar value, but in terms of the scope of the program, we are the largest RBA in Canada. That means we get a greater share of the total resources, not only within Alberta, but under the national allocation level as well," Gladue said.

Gladue said the MNA had plans and partnerships in place even before signing the new, five-year AHRDA. They also had statistics to prove concrete results. "We . . . were in a position to have HRDC seriously take a look at us and say 'we think you guys can do this, so we're actually going to channel this funding through your agreement.' Now this is not the case in any other province; in every other province, HRDC drives the process, and if it's not HRDC driving the process, it's the Privy Council in Ottawa. We have a very unique opportunity here, because we Aboriginal people are taking the lead role," Gladue said.

He adds they have the support of a great number of private sector partners such as the Rotary Club of Edmonton, public and Catholic schools, First Nations, and other organizations, such as the Alberta Council of Senior Federal Officials, which consists of 13 federal departments and about five provincial line departments, including Alberta Family and Social Services and Alberta Justice. The City of Edmonton is a partner too.

"The whole idea behind the urban strategy is not only to develop labor market services for Aboriginal people in the City of Edmonton - collectively between the Metis Nation and Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 in Edmonton, and the Metis Nation and Treaty 7 in Calgary - we partner up with the other Aboriginal authorities to address the labor market issues of Aboriginal people in these two cities," Gladue said.

Someone involved with Alberta Justice, for example, may have problems or needs that may have to be addressed concurrently to make them job ready - thus, the "single window" approach o service delivery, he said.

MNA's Bruce Gladue is the only other person in the organization working full-time on the AHRDA, Lorne Gladue said, although they also use the resources of the labor market development unit and its project officer in Zone 4 (E

Gladue explained that Aboriginal Centre for Employment Strategies (ACES) under the RBA period was funded about $300,000 by MNA and treaties 6 and 8. Now they're collectively trying to restructure to provide a broader range of services and to increase staff from seven to 27. MNA and the First Nations will also increase funding to ACES, to approximately $1.5 million a year and ACES will supply the labor market component of the overall urban strategy, Gladue said.

Management consultant and acting director of ACES 2000, Julie Milne, said in a Sept. 2 interview that she has hired a new executive director, Shauna Simpson. She added that seven more staff would be hired the first of October - counsellors and intake workers - and in a couple of months, probably marketing and placement officers. Milne was a little more conservative than Gladue in stating their start-up budget from MNA and the First Nations' organization, Oteenow, at $1.2 million. After that, it will be about $750,000 a year. She said they had six staff now, and would increase to 20 initially.

"We are going to do a slow build, and gain credibility as we go," Milne said. More staff and money will mean ACES 2000 will be able to provide the follow-up and support to clients that has been missing from their programs, she added.

"If part of getting a job is keeping it, we want to be able to follow people and help them where necessary," she said. Another area they want to focus on is helping people who are new to the city by providing them with orientation and pre-employment information and letting them know about employee rights.

Metis Nation of Alberta comprises six zones. Gladue said Zones 3 and 4, which include Edmonton and Calgary, have 70 per cent of the provnce's Aboriginal population, so MNA will allocate approximately 70 per cent of its resources there. Because of MNA's demonstrated success in delivering RBA programming from 1996 to 1999, HRDC will top up their program funding with "urban component dollars", bringing their funding to approximately $11 million a year.

"So, it's about $2.2 million urban money, coming to MNA as a result, and because we brought the urban strategy to Alberta and we're the only ones doing it, the Aboriginal authorities in Alberta will have access to a total of about $4.3 million (over five years) to address urban Aboriginal issues," Gladue said.

Gladue further points out that when HRDC ran all labor market programs, after all interventions were accounted for, 60 per cent of their clients found employment. MNA's success rate since taking over is 72 per cent, he said. The MNA supports 14 employment assistance centres in the province, which provide a range of services from supplying basic information, to providing assessments, employment counselling and sometimes life skills training.

Statistics supplied by the MNA show that in each year of the three-year period ending March 31, Alberta's Metis received about $8,750,000. The split of an approximate $25 million a year was 65/35, with the First Nations getting the larger share. Of the Metis' 35 per cent, the MNA got 75 per cent ($6,562,500) and the Metis settlements got the remainder. MNA supported 2,547 Metis for training and completed167 projects over the three years. Two hundred and eighty-nine people were still in training at the time of reporting.