Nunavik Inuit need more support to enter job market: report

Barbara Veevee, Montreal-based but originally from Pangnirtung, works on her resume at the Ivirtivik employment resource centre in Montreal earlier this year. (FILE PHOTO)

Quebec Inuit communities are struggling to gain a foothold in the labour market in both Nunavik and Montreal, and a new report prepared by a group of Quebec employment support organizations offers some insight as to why.

Employment services available for Inuit both north and south have offered much-needed support, but the report suggests that Inuit could use more specialized help adapted to their cultural background.

In other words, it’s not just about wearing a tie to the job interview.

A Quebec career development umbrella organization, called the Regroupement québécois des organismes pour le développement de l’employabilité (RQuODE), teamed up with the Kativik Regional Government and the Canadian Career Development Foundation to look at what sort of specific challenges Nunavimmiut face in trying to enter the job market.

“They want to work. They want to make a living. And they want to contribute to their communities,” said Sophie Mathers, a career development consultant who has worked with the KRG.

“But some of the strategies aren’t working. So we wanted to see what doesn’t work.”

For starters, the cash economy is still a relatively new and imported concept in Nunavik –- the job market was only introduced in the region in the 1930s.

And even today, eight in 10 Nunavik adults still take part in harvesting activities as a form of food security.

So there can be misconceptions around what constitutes “being employed” when Inuit find ways to support their families without receiving an actual pay cheque.

But low employment rates plague the region: 19.6 per cent — about one in five — of Nunavimmiut were on welfare in 2011, more than double the 7.5 per cent elsewhere in Quebec.

Most Nunavik residents who are employed work for regional organizations in public administration, health care and education.

But many Inuit who were interviewed in the study point out that pursuing a career is not so ingrained in northern culture; that jobs are more just a means to provide for the family.

Based on the research and interviews compiled for the report, Mathers says regional organizations and other job support services can improve the way they help Inuit find satisfying jobs, and keep those jobs, in a way that still integrates and respects Inuit culture.

Career development services shouldn’t be seen as a placement centre, she said.

“It’s a process,” she said. “But for [Inuit], it can be intimidating and hard to understand.”

From a job counselling perspective, the report notes the importance of including family during career development, or incorporating traditional learning methods into the process, such like storytelling.

“Specialized services are essential,” Mathers said.

That means ensuring job counsellors are well-trained and prepared to understand cultural differences, from communication styles and personal values to adapting to a new workplace.

Programs like Iviritivik, an employment and education resource centre for Inuit based in both Montreal and Inukjuak, have done a good job bridging the gap, Mathers said, although both staff and clients could benefit from expanded training.

The French-language report, called “Research of indicators for creating original employment support adapted to an Inuit clientele”, calls for better government support for job training and education.

And that can happen without assimilation, the report notes.

You can read a copy of the report here. The English and Inuktitut translation will be published later this year.

The second phase of the report, a reference guide for employment, will be released in January 2016, Mathers said.