CANADA
A Canadian college that serves young Inuit people is launching a new program to help its graduates prepare for careers in the Federal Public Service and that of the far northern Territory of Nunavut.
Chair of the Nunavut Sivuniksavu (NS) College Board of Directors, Jesse Unaapik Mike (pictured) said the aim was to see more Inuit in the public sector to ensure the Canadian First Peoples were leading Nunavut at all levels.
“Education and experience are the keys to realising that goal,” Ms Mike said.
She said the new Academic and Career Development Program would combine courses at Carleton University, leading to a Certificate in Nunavut Public Services Studies.
There would be two work placements in a number of Federal Government Departments in Ottawa, including Statistics Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
“Each placement will involve work that relates directly to Inuit, Nunavut or the implementation of the Nunavut Agreement,” Ms Mike said.
“The Program will be open to graduates of the second-year Advanced Inuit Studies program at NS.”
She said the pilot phase of the program, for which six students had already been selected, would run from late August until December 2019.
A report last year found that even though about 84 per cent of Nunavut’s population is Inuit, they hold only 51 per cent of Nunavut-based jobs in the Territorial and Federal Governments.
Ottawa, 17 July 2018
