Training is the key to prosperity personally and commercially
Foundation continues research to create opportunities for Aboriginal youth
Training is the key to prosperity personally and commercially
5.8 million Canadians aged 25 years and over do not have a high school diploma or higher credentials.
Karen Myers/Patrice de Broucker, Too Many Left Behind
This number may be staggering to many but not for countless of our Canadian educational institutions. It’s no wonder that the most significant barrier to growth for businesses today is access to skilled labour. Skilled labour (not just skilled trades) is essential for the growth and development of Canadian communities.
Over the past few years, several communities in the northern Ontario have taken on a Business Retention and Expansion project (BR+E). Businesses are asked a series of questions that assist community leaders to better understand the objectives, concerns and opportunities that the businesses are facing. Most businesses reported that their number one issue is workforce related – access to skills development and training.
Due to the fact that many local residents are still without the basics of a high school diploma or higher credentials, businesses continue to struggle to find the right people for the job. This is not simply a northern Ontario problem; this is a global issue. Many struggle to find skilled staff.
Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies have identified nine essential skills. These skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in different ways and at different levels of complexity. They are:
Essential Skills:
1. Reading Text
2. Document Use
3. Numeracy
4. Writing
5. Oral Communications
6. Working With Others
7. Continuous Learning
8. Thinking Skills
9. Computer Use
Source: Human Resources Skills Development Canada – Essential Skills
Identifying the skills needed is only the first step. In order to ensure competency and improvement of these skills, training and education are key.
If you’re an employer, I challenge you to review the abilities of your current staff and ask yourself, “Do any of my employees need to improve their skills in any of these areas?” If you answered yes, what role do you see yourself playing to improve the situation?
As an individual reading this article, do you wish to improve your abilities?
Contact North can provide you with access to the training and education you may need.
According to many northern Ontario businesses, the obstacles to providing training to employees include:
• access to education;
• costs; including relocation and
• the ability to release the staff during work hours.
With centres in 90 communities across northern Ontario and partnerships with 13 accredited post-secondary institutions, Contact North can help with the first two obstacles.
As an employer, you hold the cards on the third. Contact your nearest Access Centre for the fall course guide or visit contactnorth.ca.
An idea that started as a simple museum to chronicle the Calgary Police Service’s history became one of the most creative and effective implements to help educate youth about policing, the consequences of crime and poor lifestyle choices.
Now entering its 12th year since opening to the public, YouthLink Calgary – The Calgary Police Interpretive Centre remains fresh and relevant in society, with imaginative interactive displays that engage and inform the visitor on sensitive and fun issues alike. The Centre also runs a forensic science programme for grade six children during the school year – kind of like a CSI Calgary – where students look at various types of evidence, such as fingerprints and DNA, and come up with a who-done-it scenario. This is a very popular program and teachers can schedule their class in with their booking coordinator at (403) 206-2009.
An agent against crime
In 2005, 4,156 criminal code charges were laid against youth in Calgary, 10 percent more than the previous year. Youth accounted for 22 percent of all persons charged in 2005, yet youth only represented 8 percent of Calgary’s population in that year.
YouthLink Calgary – The Calgary Police Interpretive Centre has evolved into the compelling, relevant facility it is today because of the rising concern for crime among youth.
The mandate of the Centre is to educate children on how they can protect themselves from individuals or organizations that may want to harm or exploit them. Education is the best prevention, especially where crime among youth is concerned. Educating young people about crime, its consequences and the role of police in society provides a proactive policing strategy that focuses on young people before they commit crimes, rather than after.
YouthLink Calgary – The Calgary Police Interpretive Centre is also a learning opportunity for parents. Our exhibits reveal the reality faced by Calgary youth and can help parents open a dialogue with their children.
Crimes that profoundly affect children
The true importance of the Centre is its frank look at crime and poor lifestyle choices and the disastrous consequences that can result from these. The Centre also removes the glamorous ideas that are often associated with crime by the media. Three exhibits – Dead End Street, Tricked, and Harm’s Way – are particularly compelling. They give a graphic and interactive treatment of substance abuse, internet safety and the commercial sexual exploitation of children, and youth violence associated with bullying and gang activity. The gang exhibit has recently been updated to include the powerful message the Calgary Police Service developed in its gang intervention strategy available on the website www.getalife.ca.
A place for police aficionados of all ages
Children and their parents have an opportunity to sit in a real-life police cruiser, ride a police motorcycle, record their own fingerprints and dress up like a real cop. Run almost entirely by volunteers, visitors should allow for a minimum of two hours, ensuring a fulfilling visit.
The Centre was five years in the making, and opened its doors on September 20, 1995. It is located on the second floor of the Police Administration Building (316 – 7th Avenue SE). Aside from the interactive displays, it also looks back at the early days of the Calgary Police Force, firearms and other equipment, and a gallery honouring their fallen members of the force. Visit our interactive website – www.youthlinkcalgary.com – to learn more.
Foundation continues research to create opportunities for Aboriginal youth
Within two years of graduation, Aboriginal high school graduates are almost twice as likely as other Canadian students to either drop out of college or university studies or skip post-secondary education altogether, says The Class of 2003 High School Follow-Up Survey, published June 14th by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.
“The vast majority of new jobs being created today will be filled by college or university graduates,” said Joseph Berger, a policy and research officer at the Foundation. “In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 20% of young adults are Aboriginal, and that proportion increases every year. Unless a greater number of young First Nations, Inuit and Metis people in these two provinces are able to access and succeed in post-secondary education, their provincial economies will soon be at a significant disadvantage.”
The study, which surveyed Grade 12 students in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and New Brunswick two years after graduation, shows that only 54% of Aboriginal students had completed or were continuing post-secondary studies, compared with 73% of non-Aboriginal students. A further 10% of Aboriginal students had dropped out of college or university. The study confirms that Aboriginal students encounter particular barriers to post-secondary studies, such as being more likely to have to relocate from their home communities to access college or university, and being less likely to receive financial support from their families to help pay for their education.
The study also shows that an important reason why many Aboriginal students do not make it to post-secondary education is that they are more likely to drop out before reaching Grade 12. In general, the gap in post-secondary participation between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians is even greater than that signified by this survey, which only surveyed youth who were in Grade 12 in 2003. However, this study strongly suggests that strategies designed to keep Aboriginal students in high school will pay off over time in terms of greater participation in college and university.
Noting that Aboriginal communities, as well as federal and provincial governments, have long been aware of the need for improvement in educational outcomes of Aboriginal youth, Norman Riddell, the Foundation's executive director and chief executive officer, emphasized the importance of new research that could help identify solutions.
“There have been a growing number of initiatives designed to help Aboriginal students complete high school and make a successful transition to higher education,” Mr. Riddell said. “The Foundation itself is presently conducting pilot projects in Manitoba and British Columbia that are testing different strategies to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. While the results of these studies are not yet in, the Foundation hopes that its research will contribute to the creation of more opportunities for Aboriginal youth t access and succeed in post-secondary education.”
The Class of 2003 High School Follow-Up Survey, as well as information about the Foundation's Making Education Work and LE,NONET pilot projects, is available on the Foundation's website at www.millenniumscholarships.ca/en/research/index.asp.
The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is a private, independent organization created by an act of Parliament in 1998. It encourages Canadian students to strive for excellence and pursue their post-secondary studies. Each year, the Foundation distributes some $350 million in the form of bursaries and scholarships throughout Canada. Since its inception, it has awarded 800,000 bursaries, with a total value of $2.3 billion, to Canadian post-secondary students.