Yanke planning to partner with First Nations

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For years, the Saskatoon-based Yanke Group of Companies has been trying to increase the number of Aboriginal people it employs, but with little success. So now, the company is trying a new approach.

Instead of trying to reach out to individual Aboriginal people to interest them in positions with the company, Yanke is working to develop partnerships with tribal councils across the country, who will then in turn work to get the word out to their members about career opportunities in the trucking business.

"What it is that I'm trying to do . . . is create a successful employment model for the trucking industry," explained Yanke vice-president of human resources Neil Pritchard. "And that's based upon many years of going to career fairs, and sending out ads and working really hard at Aboriginal recruiting, but not really ever seeing the results."

"We've got, I think, about a four or five per cent self-declared Aboriginal workforce. It's probably more than that, but that's what's self-declared. That's not good enough. And what's really amazing to me is the fact that, when we put ads out in the paper for hiring people, we don't see Aboriginal applications come in very often. So that tells me that we're not connecting very well, or we're not connecting in the right spot, or something."

In order to start making those connections, Yanke has partnered with the Aboriginal Human Resources Development Council of Canada (AHRDCC) to develop their employment model.

The ultimate goal of the plan is to increase the number of Aboriginal people employed by the company at all levels, right across the country.

"It's an interesting thing, because transportation is Canada's largest employer, and the trucking industry has a huge, critical need for people. At the same time, you look at First Nations populations growing, and a significant need for employment, good employment, and so when you compare both of those things, there's almost no reason why there shouldn't be a real success story there, but there hasn't been yet. And I think its because of the lack of the process there . . . there just isn't a formalized process whereby employers can reach in and communicate effectively to the tribal councils to the point where there's a bridge between the two," Pritchard explained.

"When you look at the real successful tribal councils out there, the ones that have really made some stuff happen, they've had really strong leadership within. And they've had a burning desire to make some stuff happen. And so to find those leaders, I think is the first step."

"And then to sit around the table and create the business plan, the business case, and then formulate the business processes that support that, so it's not just sitting around in meetings talking about cultural awareness and so on. Not that that's bad. But that in itself doesn't create jobs. We have to be more formal in our approach. And just going to job fairs doesn't do it, and just advertising doesn't do it. The people out there within the First Nations communities need to know what the trucking industry is, what it has to offer, and how to get into it. And so we have to build that bridge across too, I think," said Neil Pritchard.

"We're at the stage now where we're looking for large urban tribal council leaders across the country in places that are conducive to trucking so that we can test this model and actually create some success stories out there."

That's where the AHRDCC becomes a key player, with AHRDCC president Kelly Lendsay taking on the role of introducing Pritchard to some of the leaders of the larger urban tribal councils across Canada, beginning discussions of how Yanke can tailor its employment model to meet their specific strengths and needs. The employment model has already been presented to the Saskatoon Tribal Council for its consideration.

"There's probably two or three stages of this thing. The initial stage is that we've got jobs right now for truck drivers. And s that's the first thing, is that we start to show that the trucking industry in this country has a significant need, and we can actually hire people, today. That's the first thing. The second thing is, we need to be able to create sustainable employment out there. So how is it that we're going to train truck drivers, give them the experience, so they become more employable in the country, to the larger trucking companies that actually have this huge need," Pritchard said.

"I'm convinced that once we have some role models out there, and some success stories, then it'll just start, like a snowball."

Currently, Yanke employs about 770 people, right across the country.