Barriers to Employment that Aboriginal People Face
- Jenny Larocque
- Jan 21, 2016
- 2 min read
Anyone who is involved with the Aboriginal community knows all too well that there are outrageously high unemployment rates within community, right across Canada! This is a situation that recreates itself for following generations if changes are not made to the overarching problems.
While perusing articles regarding Aboriginal Employment, we came across a very interesting article written by Bob Joseph, of ‘Indigenous Corporate Training’ Blog, entitled ‘8 Basic Barriers to Aboriginal Employment’ that we couldn’t put away. The article was the first in a three part series focused on the relationship Aboriginals have, or don’t have, with employment.
What caught our eye was the frank approach in which Bob took in speaking of the origins of the current day issues. The simplified answer is that:
“European settlers viewed [the] Aboriginal people as inferior… and Aboriginal people viewed settlers with distrust”.
It is this basic principle that shapes the entire present day relationship between the Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal populations, and this relationship upholds the barriers that people encounter. Those laws that have been created, which do or do not still exist, are all created around this same principle.
The most common, and obvious, barriers that are discussed in the article are:
Literacy and Education
Cultural Differences
Racism/Discrimination/Stereotypes
Self-Esteem
Poverty and Poor Housing
Lack of Driver’s License
Transportation
Child Care
For those who are less informed on the issues facing our Aboriginal populations, many of these barriers still sound familiar as they can also affect other groups. The blatantly glaring difference is the ways in which these issues impact community members and often prevent them from achieving proper employment, rather than being a mere inconvenience.
For the full article, click here to read on.
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Photo Credit:
"a barrier" by M.G. Kafkas is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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