INCREASED JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FIRST NATIONS AND MÉTIS PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE

The Government of Saskatchewan signed a partnership agreement today to increase job opportunities for First Nations and Métis people in the province.

The Department of First Nations and Métis Relations signed an Aboriginal Employment Development Program partnership agreement with the Keewatin Yatthé Regional Health Authority, the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO), the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan.

“All program partners are working together with the Saskatchewan Government to promote full participation of all people in the economy of our province,” Community Resources Minister Buckley Belanger said on behalf of First Nations and Métis Relations Minister Maynard Sonntag.  “We all share a vision where everyone has the opportunity to succeed and realize their dreams of building a better future right here in Saskatchewan.”

“SAHO is pleased to sign this agreement in the hopes it solidly establishes a welcoming place for Aboriginal people to work in all levels of the health care system,” SAHO board chair Alex Taylor said.

“The Keewatin Yatthé Regional Health Authority believes in supporting a representative workforce and has developed a strategy to reach this goal,” Keewatin Yatthé Regional Health Authority board chair David Seright said.  “With approximately 80 per cent of the current staff compliment identified as aboriginal, we are pleased to be able to say that we truly have a representative workforce in our health authority.”

Through the Aboriginal Employment Development Program, the Saskatchewan Government is striving to build a representative workforce that has First Nations and Métis people represented at all occupational levels in proportion to their population numbers in the province.

-30-

For more information, contact:

Sharon Erickson
First Nations and Métis Relations
Regina
Phone: 306-787-7177
Email: serickson@fnmr.gov.sk.ca