Original Article by: Alex Boutilier
June 19, 2009
According to the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO), the aboriginal population in Canada grows at more than twice the annual rate of the rest of Canada. CANDO also projected that the demand for environmental practitioners increased by 16% from 2003 to 2006.
Now, one Calgary-based initiative has been seeking to bring these two trends together.
Building Environmental Aboriginal Human Resources, or BEAHR, is an initiative launched by ECO Canada in 2001.
BEAHR seeks to increase aboriginal employment in the environmental sector through raising awareness, providing education and training, and helping workers and employers connect on a national level.
Michael Kerford is the vice-president of ECO Canada, the not-for-profit organization behind the BEAHR initiative. He said that BEAHR is a unique initiative that places itself between industry and aboriginal communities, bringing the two together.
BEAHR works with companies, such as Albian Sands and True North Energy, to find out what the industry needs.
They also can offer these companies a standardized training program, so companies know what graduates can do, reducing the risk of under-qualified new hires.
The initiative also consults with aboriginal communities, to ask those communities what they want out of a career in the environmental sector.
From that consultation process, BEAHR has adapted its training programs to suit both the industry demand and the career ambitions of aboriginal people.
The initiative hopes to increase aboriginal presence in the environmental sector by 6,000 new positions by 2018.
In addition to its job creation and employment role, the BEAHR initiative also provides resources for part-time and full-time students in high school, college and university interested in working in the environmental sector.
They provide internships, contact mentors, and facilitate interest matching for students seeking guidance.
Kerford said that ECO Canada’s market research revealed a high and growing demand for skilled workers in the environmental sector. The high demand was matched with a low supply of those workers.
Kerford added that the rapid population growth in aboriginal Canada, coupled with a natural stewardship of nature was one of the prime motivations behind the BEAHR initiative.
But Kerford is careful to note that BEAHR is not about creating and filling just any job in the environmental sector. Instead, BEAHR is committed to creating “sustainable, ongoing and meaningful work” through education and building skill-sets.
“BEAHR Learning Institute (BLI) is where the bulk of our resources go. BLI has different training models in six different environmental areas,” Kerford Said.
These programs combine the technical and scientific side of the environmental sector with traditional based knowledge.
BEAHR has conducted several regional roundtables across Alberta to discuss the state of aboriginals in the environmental sector, including one held in Fort McMurray.
The Fort McMurray roundtable highlighted the crucial role parent’s play in encouraging their children to actively pursue an education, stating that the “lack of discipline, support, motivation and responsibility parents have towards their children is a major factor in their child’s development,” as well as in future career prospects.
The report also underlined the importance of getting resource materials and raising awareness to rural communities, noting that it is “necessary to talk with those in the community to discover what it is that they need or would like, rather than telling them what they need.”
“Traditionally, our delivery mechanism has been in urban centers, mostly through our website” says Kerford. “There was definitely a need to shift our communication model.”
Kerford said that in order to get word of the initiative out to rural communities, ECO Canada has relied on “a lot of on-the-ground communication initiatives.”
This served not only in getting the word out about BEAHR, but also providing a crucial feedback mechanism. The method has been a success, according to Kerford.
To find out more, visit BEAHR’s website
To read more articles by Alex Boutilier visit www.fortmcmurraytoday.com
