Poor education main barrier for Baffinland jobs: Inuit org survey

Inuit recently surveyed in communities around Baffinland Iron Mine Corp.’s Mary River iron mine project say poor education, language skills, computer skills and no personal bank accounts are barriers to finding employment at the mine.

That’s according to a survey presented by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association’s department of major projects at the Baffin organization’s annual general meeting Oct. 8 in Iqaluit.

For the survey, the QIA interviewed 753 Inuit from Pond Inlet, Clyde River, Igloolik, Arctic Bay and Hall Beach, with 42 per cent of those interviewed ranked as unemployed, but available for work.

The unemployed group cited education as the top barrier to employment, as fewer than one-third them of had attained a minimum high school education.

They identified the next most common employment barriers as insufficient computer skills (64 per cent), lack of a bank account (40 per cent) and poor English language skills (21 per cent).

Despite these barriers, many who participated in the survey showed an interest in working at the mine, with employment interest ranging from 70 per cent to 88 per cent of people surveyed among the five communities.

Camp service jobs, such as janitorial or catering services, received the most interest (64 per cent) followed by health and safety jobs (62 per cent) and jobs operating heavy machinery (56 per cent).

The Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement developed with Baffinland includes a minimum Inuit employment goal, but that goal hasn’t been defined yet, Stephen Williamson Bathory, the director of QIA’s department of major projects, said at the meeting.

The minimum Inuit employment goal, Williamson Bathory explained, is calculated by dividing the number of hours worked by Inuit at the mine by the total number of hours worked at the mine.

Baffinland transported its first load of iron ore in September, after scaling its production plans down for the near future.

Draft financial statements presented at QIA’s annual general meeting Oct. 7 reported an $18.7-million surplus for the 2013-14 fiscal year, thanks, in large part, to revenues from the Mary River IIBA Fund.