Northern job prospects great for an educated workforce

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There's no divorcing the topic of education and training from one of the major concerns of the corporate world-economic self-sufficiency of a people or nation.

National Chief Phil Fontaine spoke about the topic from AFN headquarters in Ottawa Nov. 17. A lot of what he had to say should make Albertans' ears perk up.

"For the last couple of days we've had some very interesting interaction with a couple of important sectors, one this afternoon with the Conference Board of Canada, which is made up of CEOs from pretty large companies. They presented us with an opportunity to talk to them about First Nations issues in the context of economic self-sufficiency," Fontaine said.

One of those companies was Syncrude Canada Ltd. Its chairman and chief executive officer, Eric Newell, also attended the Conference Board's CEO forum on Aboriginal issues.

"We talked," Fontaine went on, "about how we might secure support from the corporate community. We suggested that we establish an ad hoc committee comprised of various CEOs and First Nations' representatives to begin mapping out the kind of strategy that needs to be employed to revitalize First Nation economies, understanding and knowing the resource base-natural resources as well as human resources. So quite clearly, what is needed is a major inventory be taken of all of the assets in- and outside of our communities.

"The conference board has agreed to participate in this ad hoc committee. I believe we have an excellent opportunity to position ourselves so that we can have a significant buy-in from the corporate community supporting First Nations economic development initiatives, and we spoke about a couple of experiences which have proven invaluable, in my view, in terms of demonstrating to the private sector that the private sector need not fear investing in First Nation communities."

Then Fontaine got to Alberta. "The one example I spoke about," he said, "was Syncrude, which last year projected $30 million worth of business with First Nations owned and managed businesses in the Fort MacMurray area, which actually did $60 million of business and this is all with First Nation businesses.

"They employ now about 700 Aboriginal people in the area. All told, the industry in Fort MacMurray employs 1,000 Aboriginal people. The next few years, through attrition and other requirements, the industry will need to fill 7,000 jobs in that area alone. So, it represents a tremendous opportunity for First Nations people in the area if we prepare ourselves to take full advantage of those opportunities," Fontaine said.

Newell addressed the Conference Board about the amount of crude petroleum his company makes, their share of the market and what that means to the Aboriginal people with whom Syncrude does business. He says Syncrude currently accounts for 13 per cent of Canadian crude requirements and are aiming at 25 per cent when they complete their expansion.

At least 13 per cent of their workforce is Aboriginal, too, according to Newell's calculations. He says this is representative of the area's population, but they're still working on getting more into management.

In December, Beverly Davies, Syncrude's advisor for regional consultation, told Sweetgrass that Native people in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will get considered for jobs as expansion occurs, in line with their policy of hiring, training and promoting local people.

Davies, who is a Metis from the area, says developing a pool of people from which to draw expertise has always been their strategy. But there will be no overnight successes. "If you look at the first engineeer we hired in '92," she said, "he's on a succession plan, he's got high potential, but the reality of it is he's not going to be a manager tomorrow . . . he's probably going to take another five years before he's even in a position where he's seriously considered . . . ."

Newell said in his speech they began an Aboriginal development program o include Aoriginal people in hiring around 1974, before the company started production.

"The fundamental objective," Newell said, "was to help Aboriginal people to help themselves. And that's the only premise that will work in the long run. We work with Aboriginal employees and contractors on meaningful opportunities and help them develop the appropriate tools to achieve their goals."

To Newell, the Aboriginal Development Program had to be integrated into their operations as an investment in Syncrude's future success.

"We were, and we remain committed to employment equity," he said. "But we didn't fill quotas for the sake of it. For example, we helped establish an industrial workers' course at the local college and hired qualified Aboriginal graduates directly on to the Syncrude project.

Employment is just one component of the Aboriginal Development Program of which Newell speaks-Education and Career Planning is another. The other four cornerstones are all related.

The Athabasca Tribal Council, representing five First Nations in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo where Syncrude is headquartered, has been heavily involved in creating a resource development strategy in conjunction with a group of companies (including Syncrude) called the Athabasca Regional Developers. The other major players are Suncor, Koch, Gulf, Petro-Canada, Shell and Al-Pac. This formed the basis of what Newell described as a "capacity building agreement," signed last March.

"I can't speak for the other companies involved, but I can say that, for Syncrude, the capacity building agreement is basically an extension of the principles and philosophies embodied in our own Aboriginal Development Program," Newell said. "For example, where skills upgrading initiatives help Aboriginal people share in the benefits of expansion, it would be wrong to look at our involvement in educational initiatives as a gift. Because we get something out of it too-employees who are just as productive and rliable as any oter, who earn their salaries or contract fees."

"We apply a lot of rigor to our succession planning for Aboriginal people," Davies added later. "What that typically means is that when you're a non-Aboriginal person and you're in the grad development program, you're typically not identified as having potential until you're out of the program. It's a four-year program. But what we do is we start looking at our Aboriginal candidates right away. And so it's a bit of a fast-tracking process and focus. And so it's not a situation where we make a manager out of someone who isn't management material, but if that potential is there, we really . . . try to develop it."