Looking for a few good Aboriginal university grads

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If you are Aboriginal and have earned a Bachelor degree within the last five years, the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission is looking for you.

The provincial Public Service Commission has launched a new program designed to increase the number of young Aboriginal people joining the provincial public service. The Aboriginal Public Service Internship program will provide 10 paid two-year internship positions each year, with the first group of candidates to begin its work terms this September.

Although the deadline for the first offering of the program has passed, another intake of 10 interns will be accepted next year.

Interns will have rotating job assignments during the program, exposing them to a variety of areas of the public service, including policy development, program delivery, human resources, communications, finance and planning.

In addition to providing opportunities for qualified Aboriginal candidates to find employment in the public service, the program also hopes to increase the number of Aboriginal role models in decision-making positions, and to better include Aboriginal perspectives in program and policy development.

The Aboriginal Public Service Internship program is one of three components of the Aboriginal Internship and Management Development program. The other two components, still in development, will be the Aboriginal Student Experience program, which will provide students in post-secondary studies with practical work experience through paid work placements within the public service, and the Aboriginal Management Development program, designed to increase advancement opportunities for Aboriginal employees already within the public service.

For more information about any of these Public Service Commission initiatives, visit the commission Web site at http://www.gov.sk.ca/psc or call Cathy Wheaton, manager of the Aboriginal Public Service Internship Program, at 306-787-0080.

Library services to be improved

A new advisory committee has been formed, to find ways of improving access to library services for Aboriginal people across Saskatchewan.

Establishment of the Advisory Committee on Library Services for Aboriginal People was announced May 17 by Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ron Osika.

"This committee is an important step toward ensuring that Aboriginal peoples in Saskatchewan have access to the informational, educational, cultural and recreational resources of public libraries," Osika said.

The committee will be co-chaired by Ava Bear, a consultant from Muskoday First Nation, and Wendy Sinclair, head librarian of the Albert branch library in Regina.

The committee will consult with the library community, Aboriginal people and the public throughout the summer. Six locations have been chosen for the meetings.

The first set of meetings was held May 17 and 18 at Jackfish Lodge near North Battleford, while a second set was scheduled for May 31 and June 1 in Prince Albert. Future meetings are scheduled for June 21 and 22 in Beauval, June 25 and 26 in Fort Qu'Appelle, July 19 and 20 in Saskatoon, and Aug. 16 and 17 in Regina.

The committee is expected to make its recommendations in the fall.

For more information about the advisory committee, contact Maureen Boyle with Municipal Affairs and Housing at 787-5959.