Minister Dissatisfied With Native Employment Stats

Minister Dissatisfied With Native Employment Stats

Monday, September 08, 2008 at 15:14

The minister responsible for jobs in the province says he’s deeply concerned about the low number of First Nations people being hired in Saskatchewan.

The government recently released statistics showing 15,000 more jobs had been created this year than last.

Minister Lyle Stewart says that’s great.

The problem is that the number of First Nations people being hired stayed at the same level as last year.

Stewart calls it “a pretty big problem, especially in the north”.

He says those numbers need to go up so that First Nations people share in the province’s prosperity with the rest of the population.

Stewart says immigration will help address some of the job shortages in Saskatchewan, but he wants to see First Nations workers addressing those vacancies, too.