MLA Linda Larson announced $1.97 million in funding on Friday to the Okanagan Nation Alliance for a new BRIDGES program aimed at promoting youth employment and cultural identity. (Richard McGuire photo)
The provincial government is providing $1.97 million to the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) for a new pilot project to promote Aboriginal youth employment.
MLA Linda Larson made the announcement Friday at Spirit Ridge at Nk’Mip Resort along with representatives of the ONA and the University of British Columbia-Okanagan (UBCO).
The BRIDGES program will provide individualized employment services to 140 Okanagan (Syilx) youth aged 15 to 30 and will focus on their Aboriginal cultural and heritage while removing barriers to employment.
BRIDGES is an acronym for Building Resources for Innovative Development, Growth and Economic Stability.
The three-year project is the first of its kind in B.C. and Aboriginal leaders such as Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) Chief Clarence Louie hope it will serve as a model for other First Nations that are dealing with high unemployment.
Larson said the project gives the ONA the means to test its new innovative approach to offering employment services.
“This approach will focus on First Nations culture and heritage, offering those youth a chance to learn about the rich history and what it means to be a First Nations person,” said Larson.
It will also provide employment training and on-the-job work experience.
“The goal is to give participants the confidence to find greater success in their lives, whether it be in employment or education,” Larson added. “The program will blend traditional teachings with employment training, to find and break down barriers experienced by aboriginal youth across the province.”
Brenda Baptiste, the project manager with the ONA, said the program would serve all seven bands that make up the ONA.
“What makes this program so innovative is it looks at an individual and their identity as an Okanagan First Nations and their responsibility and role within their community and region,” said Baptiste. “We believe that if somebody truly understands who they are as an Aboriginal person and understands their role and responsibility, they’re going to be far more successful when it comes to either work, employment or long-term education.”
The program will instill a sense of identity, she added.
BRIDGES will include job placements with local employers to give real-world work experience.
UBCO will track the participants’ employment and education outcomes and best practices to develop a template for other First Nations communities to use.
Baptiste said the program’s success would be built on three things – the vision of ONA youth, the team, which includes traditional knowledge keepers and leaders and the partners from industry, UBCO and the provincial government.
“This program has the potential to be a catalyst for change across the country, not just here in the Okanagan,” said Baptiste. “But we’ll start here because we have the best youth in the country.”
Chief Louie spoke about the need for employment opportunities, noting that he recently visited a band in mid-northern B.C. that has 80 per cent unemployment.
“That is three times worse than the Great Depression,” he said.
He also noted that First Nations people are the youngest and fastest-growing population in the province.
“There are healing and wellness workshops all the time,” said Louie, recalling a recent conversation he had. “The best healing and wellness program is a job.”
Louie also spoke about the traditional work ethic of the Okanagan people, introducing elder Jane Stelkia as an example.
Stelkia, now in her 80s, spoke about how as a young girl she was disciplined by her mother with a switch made from a Saskatoon berry bush.
“Boy oh boy that burns,” she said. “I had a switching – not all my life, but at times. I thank my mother for that.”
BRIDGES is funded by the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation through the Research and Innovation (R&I) stream of the Community and Employer Partnerships program.
The R&I stream provides funding for time-limited, research-oriented projects that put forward untried and untested approaches to labour-market problems.
The design of the project was influenced by a 2012 study by the Industry Training Authority called “Barriers and Successful Approaches to Preparing and Employing Aboriginal Trades People.”
The study stressed the need for innovation at the grassroots, community level to address obstacles holding back potential workers.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie spoke about the importance of employment and the work ethic of First Nations people at an announcement Friday of the new BRIDGES program. The provincial government is providing $1.97 in funding to the Okanagan Nation Alliance for the program that will promote youth employment and cultural identity. (Richard McGuire photo)
