黑料吃瓜网

"What we can control is establishing the foundation of a territorial workforce that is well-educated, with the capacity and skills not only to be workers, but also contractors 鈥� 黑料吃瓜网ers operating businesses with a range of abilities, ready to respond to diverse economic opportunities."

That was Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan, speaking to the media about the looming layoffs at Ekati. She鈥檚 right, and the rest of cabinet and the legislative assembly should listen.

People in our communities want to work. They will support responsible resource development 鈥� if it actually gives them a shot at a job. But most can鈥檛 even qualify. Why? Because our education system has failed them for decades. It wasn鈥檛 designed for the North, it was imported, imposed and operated by people trained in a completely different reality. And to this day, it serves the system, not the students. High absenteeism and low graduation rates persist, generation after generation.

That鈥檚 why of the 15,600 Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit (15 and over) in the NWT workforce, only 1,000 are actively looking for work and officially unemployed, while 6,500 aren鈥檛 in the workforce at all. That鈥檚 nearly half of the Dene, M茅tis, and Inuvialuit labour force sitting idle.

Over the past 50 years, the NWT has been transformed from a frontier to a southern reservation system. The GNWT plays the role of Indian Affairs. The communities, stripped of land-based wealth, are left to navigate an economic system based on competition, credentials and mobility 鈥� move to get a job 鈥� as well as equity, which allows those who already have money to make more.

The old Indian Affairs game in Ottawa worked like a carnival game. Huge money went in the top and trickled down through a maze of non-Indigenous bureaucracy until a few golden balls popped out the bottom for the 鈥渨inners.鈥� Today, those 鈥渨inners鈥� live in the 2,400 housing units across 33 communities, many of them aging, substandard, federally-built homes. They deal with GNWT staff who control every aspect of their income and lives 鈥� people with little understanding of local history or cultures. Meanwhile, the world around them is firing on eight economic cylinders, while their own world grows smaller.

鈥淥h Valpy, you鈥檙e being too harsh,鈥� the powers-that-be might say. 鈥淟ook at the land claims. We are giving the land back, aren鈥檛 we?鈥�

Most of the claims in the Mackenzie Valley were eventually settled, grudgingly. The goal was to give the Inuvialuit, Dene, and Metis just enough land and control to prevent a fuss. Three claims 鈥� Akaitcho Territory Dene First Nation, the Dehcho First Nations, and the Northwest Territories M茅tis Nation 鈥� remain unresolved after more than 25 years. Clearly, the whole thing is designed to stifle progress, not spark it, even if settled.

It鈥檚 as if Canadians fear that giving land and power back to the Dene, Metis and Inuvialuit 鈥� who are also Canadians 鈥� means we鈥檒l lose something, that they won鈥檛 still need all the services, both public and private sector, that they value now. So instead of enabling Indigenous governments to build sustainable economies, develop their resources, educate their children and share in the economic pie, they must fight for every bridge, every road, every contract, every job, every house. Their efforts are buried in layers of red tape and they are forced to hire southern consultants to navigate the rules.

In the south, governments can鈥檛 stand in the way of the economy. The private sector is too large, too powerful, and pays the bills. But in the North, the private sector is tiny and has little sway. That makes the GNWT responsible for building both the workforce and the economy. To do that, our leaders must change their mindset. What they are doing is not working. Results matter 鈥� not policy memos and program frameworks.

Morgan has identified what needs to be done. In a consensus government, those who agree should rally around that vision and start change from the top. If they don鈥檛, the NWT will continue to slowly spiral into becoming the basket case of Canada and the biggest reservation in the country.