Nursing agreement signals job access

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An agreement signed Nov. 5 will focus the efforts of nursing associations to encourage the participation of Aboriginal people in the nursing profession.

The agreement was signed by the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada (ANAC), the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), and the Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative.

The agreement promises that programs will be developed to identify barriers that discourage or prevent Aboriginal people from entering and staying in the occupation. It also promises that action will be taken to promote new employment opportunities that include Aboriginal people.

There is a severe nursing shortage in Canada. Smaller communities, like reserves, have a hard time attracting and retaining health care workers.

"We want to fix the shortage, and to fix the shortage in isolated areas, rural areas and on reserves, we need Aboriginal people to go into nursing," said Linda Silas, CNFU president.

The union plans to work with ANAC to build a nursing education fund and to ensure that Aboriginal students are receiving adequate education to get into university nursing programs.

Lisa Dutcher is president of ANAC. She said the agreement is a positive step towards improving the state of heath care in Aboriginal communities.

She also said that an important goal of the agreement is to provide greater opportunities for more Aboriginal people to fill management positions in the field.

"Until we have Aboriginal people in decision making positions about our own health issues, then we're really not going to move forward too much in terms of dealing with the health issues we have to face."

Dutcher said Aboriginal communities are facing social and cultural upheaval.

"I think that the only way to approach dealing with a lot of our issues is to have an approach that's very culturally specific for our communities. I think that's the angle that we want to be able to take and that's why we feel it's very important to have Aboriginal nurses at decision making tables," said Dutcher.

Seeds of the agreement began to grow at the annual general meeting of ANAC last June. The association invited Silas to speak about ways to protect nurses in employment situations on reserve where unions have failed to take root. But it was also acknowledged that unions had to rethink their role to enable Aboriginal participation in opportunities in nursing.

"For example, a job posting under most collective agreements is under seniority. Well, you can't get seniority if you're not working in the place," explained Silas. By making the language in collective agreements more inclusive Aboriginal people are better able to enter unions.

Unions want to ensure Aboriginal people are employed, but because of collective agreements, the only jobs available are entry level, said Rick Hansen, the national manager for the Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative, a program run through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

"Aboriginal people aren't against unions, and aren't against seniority and the framework of seniority. Aboriginal people are against not being able to have the opportunity to get into a union and not being able to get the opportunity to gain seniority. This is where we have to do a better job," said Hansen.

Saskatchewan is being put forward as a model of inclusiveness. In 1996, the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations signed the first agreement to work with a union-the Canadian Union of Public Employees-on Aboriginal employment issues. It was the first example of Aboriginal specific wording in collective agreements and, according to Hansen, it broke down barriers. Since that signing, 56 partnerships in the healthcare, education and private sectors have emerged across the province, Hansen said.