Talking Business in Toronto

Today I am making a presentation to the Toronto Board of Trade. My message to the business community there will be simple and straight forward – investment in Inuit Nunangat is good for business, good for Canada, and good for Inuit, when done sustainably.

Government, and the business community, need to switch gears from the premise that our homeland is simply a repository of natural resource wealth to be extracted. It is in fact a wealth generator for Canada and Canadians. When money is invested in the Arctic it flows to many different places outside of the North.

For example, did you know that 80% of the money invested in the largest region - Nunavut - flows outside of that territory? It reaches across all ten southern provinces to suppliers of everything from industrial equipment to foodstuffs. It goes to dock workers in southern ports handling cargo and ships destined for the North. It makes its way to airline and trucking companies, and it flows into the bank accounts of southern construction workers who are helping to build the territory.

That final fact will take me to my next important point.

Unfortunately, while GDP is on the rise in our homeland, so is the labour shortage, and so is unemployment in regions and communities where unemployment rates can be as high as 70%.

One might easily ask how this could possibly be.

The answer lies in educational outcomes - only about 20% of our youth are finishing high school. This has led to a critical shortage of Inuit with skilled trades and professional qualifications.

The unfortunate fact is that while everything points to an economic boom across Inuit Nunangat over the next couple of decades our people will, unless things change, be unable to participate in it at meaningful levels.

We must begin to address that deficit now, and it will take far more than the involvement of government alone. The new era in Inuit education must be based not only on language and culture but in partnerships between governments, NGO’s, the business community, and parents. These are the fundamentals of the model of education that “First Canadians, Canadians First– The National Strategy on Inuit Education” are built upon.

There is a direct and undeniable link between educational outcomes, and a skilled, local, and economical labour force – and the current gap between them can be bridged by companies who choose to invest in education, apprenticeship programs, and continuing education.

A number of Canadian companies have already recognized this. They have told me that they recognize a corporate and social responsibility to invest in education in the regions they work in, and they want to play a role in the implementation of the National Strategy on Inuit Education.

It is my hope that, through speaking to groups such as the Toronto Board of Trade, others will come on board. It is after all in their corporate financial interest, and in the interest of Canada, to do so.