Increasing the participation rate of Aboriginal peoples in the workforce has just recently been pushed to the forefront of Saskatchewan’s priorities. While the overall population is stable, dramatic changes in the age and cultural structure have been occurring in the past decade and will continue in the future. The implications of these demographics cannot be underestimated. While the baby boomers are nearing retirement, the Aboriginal population is young and growing. It is central to the success of Saskatchewan’s economy and well-being of its citizens to ensure that the employment rates of this demographic group continue to improve.

The policy goal revolves around ultimately obtaining a representational workforce. Introducing diversity into the workplace helps to meet many other objectives, such as a striving economy and prosperous citizens. By increasing the amount of Aboriginals in the workforce, the business community will become more competitive because it will have a better understanding of its workforce. This policy will also help improve the stability of the labour force. Reducing social costs, and increasing cultural awareness and cooperati

The first policy involves encouraging representational workforces in the private sector through tax-break incentives. Private businesses would receive a tax-break at the end of the five-years by doing the same. The amount of the tax break would be determined on a per industry basis, taking into consideration the amount of current under-representation and by comparing the amount of improvement. The tax reduction would range from 1 – 2%.

Aboriginal people and employers are directly affected by the policies. When more Aboriginal people enter the workforce, they will gain a sense of pride and become more self-sufficient. As well, they will consider themselves to be an equal and contributing member of the community. The employers will benefit in that they will have a larger and more diversified selection of candidates to choose from. The Aboriginal community will increase the amount of positive role models who will give the youth more connections to the business community and may inspire them to pursue their goals. All of the citizens of Saskatchewan will be impacted by these policies because increased Aboriginal participation in the workforce broadens the tax base, strengthens the economy and reduces social costs.

The second policy is to increase participation without legislation and representational workforce incentives. Instead the emphasis would fall upon three major priorities. First, this policy would seek to increase involvement of Aboriginal peoples in the creation and improvement of all programs. Second, the policy will increase funding for the programs currently in place, namely the Aboriginal Employment and Development Program (AEDP). The third aspect of this policy is to improve ties and involvement with the federal government to ensure their initiatives, like the Aboriginal Work Place Initiative (AWIP), are tailored to meet the specific needs of Saskatchewan. Both the AEDP and AWIP strive to improve communications a

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