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The Conference Board of Canada is working with the Métis National Council (MNC) and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) to explore the extent to which Aboriginal people can help (and are helping) to meet current and future labour market demands.

It invites you to complete this online survey and tell us about the major challenges your business faces when recruiting, hiring and retaining Métis, Inuit, and First Nations workers. The survey also provides opportunities for you to suggest what more might be done (by employers, by Métis, Inuit, and First Nations people, and by ASETS Agreement Holders) to optimize the contribution that the Aboriginal workforce makes to the Canadian, regional, and local economy.

Please visit the following link to complete the survey:
http://conferenceboard.checkboxonline.com/AboriginalWorkers.aspx

* Please feel free to share this link with your partners, clients or other businesses.

The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. Confidentiality is important to the Conference Board: only aggregate results will be included in the final report.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact:

Jessica Edge
Research Associate
The Conference Board of Canada
Tel: (toll free) 1-866-711-2262 ext. 353
E-mail: edge@conferenceboard.ca
Web: www.conferenceboard.ca

Why study labour market issues of the Aboriginal workforce?

In the coming years, Canada’s economy is unlikely to have enough workers—or enough of the right kinds of workers—to meet the needs of its industries and sectors. Longer lifespans and falling fertility rates are “aging” the workforce at an accelerating rate.1 More so than ever before, Canada needs to be investing a significant amount in the “people-side” of its economy if it is to remain a strong and vibrant economy and one that is globally competitive.2

Aboriginal people—including Métis, Inuit, and First Nations populations—stand out as a rich domestic source of under-represented, but potential workers.

1 Glen Hodgson and Anne Park Shannon, Mission Possible: Stellar Canadian Performance in the Global Economy. (Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2007.) 87.

2 Ibid, 87.