New partnership seeks to create opportunities for Métis students in healthcare careers

The ink is barely dry on a fledgling new partnership between Alberta Health Services and Rupertsland Institute, Métis Centre of Excellence, but both parties are optimistic about what it will mean in the future.

The goal is to create new training and education opportunities for Métis students who want to enter careers in the field of healthcare. While it is too early for specifics, the path is clear for AHS and Rupertsland Institute to start the brainstorming on programs that will effectively recruit and maintain employees in the many and varied aspects of healthcare delivery in Alberta.
Where such partnerships in the past have been informal in nature, this one is significant because it has been formalized.

“This is a signed agreement in principle that we will work together to find ways to bring more Métis people into the work force,” said Sandra Jardine, director of recruitment strategies for AHS. “We’re so early in it, I don’t think the two parties have managed to sit down together yet.”

 The concept is not a new one. AHS has an existing program with the Métis Nation of Alberta and NAIT that is already showing success. The Métis Health Science Transition Program provides education and mentorship opportunities for Métis youth between the ages of 18 and 30.

“Métis people interested in healthcare careers can enroll in NAIT and do upgrading (if necessary) to get into health sciences. We provide job shadowing, and each student gets two different experiences. It’s been a highly successful program,” said Jardine.

Métis people are under-represented in healthcare professions in Alberta, said Tracy Friedel, chair of Rupertsland Institute, and this partnership should work toward correcting that.

“We are signing on in a public way, committing to work with one another,” said Friedel. “There are real incentives on both sides.”

For example, she said, improving Métis representation in the workforce is essential in building a functioning healthcare delivery system. “We are interested in developing partnerships that will bring our employment more in line with our demographic representation in the province.”

There is a broader collective impact, she added. In the future, this partnership will ensure increased employment into healthcare careers for Métis people, and the social, cultural and traditional knowledge they bring will enrich the services available to Métis people.

“I think we have a long future,” Friedel said. “If we look at the larger context, AHS are challenged like a lot of larger employers, so with the demographic of First Nations and Métis having young populations, it makes a lot of sense for us to work together to create sustainable healthcare careers because they are looking for people and we are looking for careers.”

Jardine agreed. “We are going to be experiencing workforce shortages. The workforce is aging, the population is growing. We have a large Métis population and it would be good to have that represented.”

The vast array of careers within the healthcare field opens the door to people with all kinds of skills and abilities. In addition to the health professionals, such as physicians, surgeons, registered nurses and pharmacists, there’s also a need for technicians, business professionals, accountants, tradespeople, cooks and more.

This partnership commits AHS and the Rupertsland Institute to find new and innovative ways to increase the Métis presence across the broad spectrum of healthcare careers. It also reflects and fosters the goals of fairness, inclusiveness, respect and honour for diverse traditions and perspectives.