Building Bridges
Increasing
Opportunity
for Inuit
April 11, 2022
What’s Needed to Strengthen Inuit Employment?
Employers need better tools to address employment gaps within their organizations. Understanding Inuit strengths, skills, and cultural knowledge can help.
Industries and public institutions tied to Inuit communities have a responsibility to empower Inuit employment and lead by example. Those that do will also benefit from increased capacity, Inuit expertise, and social investments.
Post-secondary institutions and other training and skills development providers operating in Inuit Nunangat have an opportunity to be more innovative and help Northern stakeholders better align labour market supply and demand within key sectors. Innovative bridging, training, and credentialing programs are needed.
Our research will:
help employers seize the financial and social advantages of tailoring Northern employment and human resources (HR) training to Inuit strengths, skills, and knowledge;
identify ways training providers can help Inuit take advantage of emerging opportunities across the mixed economy that align with their values and visions of a sustainable livelihood.
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Conservation Economy Provides Opportunities for Growth
According to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Inuit envision the conservation economy as one that provides economic benefit from the land in ways that respect and preserve Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and restores (rather than depletes) environmental resources and social capital. Inuit define the conservation economy as one that protects the environment and builds resilience to climate change, creates sustainable economies and livelihoods, fosters Inuit culture, and supports self-determination and food sovereignty.
Opportunities in the conservation economy are increasing in the Arctic North.
Research
Wildlife management
Eco-tourism
Monitoring and remediation
Land stewardship
Small-scale commercial harvesting
Research
Inuit-led research creates a bridge between Western science and Inuit ecological knowledge. It is also an important avenue for self-determination. Research data are also integral to monitoring the impacts of climate change in the North
Wildlife management
Wildlife management boards and hunters and trappers organizations manage harvesting quotas, track and monitor wildlife populations, and govern harvesting rights and regulations regionally. Inuit across Inuit Nunangat are also developing innovative strategies for sustainable fisheries that are benefiting food sovereignty as well as market opportunities.
Eco-tourism
Tourism provides opportunities for individuals to experience the life and landscape of the Arctic. It provides opportunities for Inuit to share history, culture, and knowledge of the land through guided experiences. At the same time, Inuit participation in a growing eco-tourism industry facilitates Inuit input into sustainable land-use practices.
Monitoring and remediation
Inuit skill and knowledge are key to monitoring the impacts of industry and development across the North. Opportunities for Inuit-led monitoring and remediation leverage Inuit strengths, increase self-determination, and provide economic opportunities for Inuit in areas impacted by extractive industry development.
Land stewardship
Inuit have been stewards of the land for millennia. Funding for stewardship programs provides critical resources that enable Inuit-led participation in environmental conservation and management. Stewardship opportunities can be linked to environmental research and conservation efforts. Technological innovation, like SmartICE, provides additional tools that combine knowledge with advanced data collection.
Small-scale commercial harvesting
Small-scale harvesting and country food processing create economic opportunity, increase food security, and promote food sovereignty in Inuit Nunangat.
Inuit knowledge, values, and skills can provide a strong foundation for employment in the conservation economy. To achieve this, employers require a stronger understanding of how Inuit strengths add value to these opportunities.
Recognizing Strengths and Understanding Their Value
Room for Growth
Employers across Inuit Nunangat are critical to helping Inuit realize the full potential of their skills, strengths, and knowledge. Fields related to the environment are especially important for helping Inuit realize sustainable livelihoods.
We will identify key steps that industry and government (both Inuit and non-Inuit) can take to help Inuit realize Inuit-driven strategies for inclusive economic growth in the North.
More important, though, is ensuring that Inuit have a hand in shaping economic opportunities, especially when it comes to the environment and resource management. This is critical to meaningful
economic development.
Employment Reality
Low employment rates across Inuit Nunangat are a significant issue—particularly for Inuit. (See Chart 1.)
Despite this, employers still struggle to find candidates to fill their staffing needs. Putting further pressure on these labour market gaps are strong expectations—and sometimes even legal obligations—for employers to hire Inuit.
Chart 1
Working Age Inuit Employed (2016)
(percentage)
Source: The Conference Board of Canada, Statistics Canada.
Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements
Mining companies with interests in Nunavut must fulfill Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements (IIBA). These agreements are negotiated to clearly outline social, economic, and environmental obligations to Inuit beneficiaries by mining companies and other industry. IIBA are legally binding and specify, among other things, local Inuit hiring commitments.
Bridging the Gaps
A key piece of the puzzle is addressing the gap between supply and demand for employees. One way to do this is to help employers recognize the existing strengths and skills of Inuit candidates.
Ensuring recruiting practices do not inadvertently dismiss qualified candidates or overlook skills that actually align with employer needs is key. This means employers need to engage with communities and build relationships with them. This will help employers understand what skills candidates have and what kinds of opportunities community members are looking for.
Employee programs like job-shadowing and pre-employment training can help gauge the interest and capacity of individuals and uncover what they need to be satisfied and successful in their careers. And developing career pathways with opportunities for training and upskilling may increase employee retention and can lead to greater Inuit representation in management roles.
People in Northern communities have skills that are useful to Northern employers. Developing methods of assessing these skills can help employers find ways to apply them to new job opportunities.
Partnerships between industry, post-secondary institutions, and training providers should explore ways to improve certification and credentialing programs to effectively capture and validate Inuit strengths and experience.
Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements
Next Steps
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We are interviewing Northern employers to identify how organizations are integrating Inuit knowledge, strengths, and skills into their recruitment and retention practices.
We are launching a survey for employers, education and training providers, and government departments to identify additional supports and training programs, and to explore the growth potential for Inuit employment in the conservation sector.
We are developing a toolkit of effective, inclusive, and culturally appropriate HR practices to help employers better align their objectives and operations with Inuit knowledge, strengths, and skills.
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Our research will help identify effective bridging mechanisms that link Inuit skills to education and employment opportunities (e.g., micro-credentialing and essential skills development, culturally appropriate and inclusive recruitment practices).
We want to increase collaboration and coordination within the skills development ecosystem by sharing these resources to help increase Inuit participation and employment in the conservation sector.
We Want to Hear From You
Learn more about other research projects from the Indigenous and Northern Communities research team.
If you are an employer or training provider in Inuit Nunangat and have innovative programs you’d like to share, please consider participating in our survey.
Let us know about the kinds of opportunities and programs your organization provides, or ways that employers and training providers can be supported as they work to implement programs. You can reach out to us here.
Bibliography:
Government of Nunavut. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. Iquluit: Government of Nunavut, n.d. Accessed February 11, 2022. https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/iq_brochure_draft_1.pdf.
Statistics Canada. “Labour Market Eperiences of Inuit.” 2018. Accessed February 11, 2022. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/89-653-x/89-653-x2018004-eng.pdf?st=HSdf-Trf.
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