Aboriginal education, employment high priorities, Sask. politicians say

Closing the education and employment gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people will be a high priority for 2015, Saskatchewan's political leaders say.

About ¾ of high school students graduate on time, but less than 40 per cent of aboriginal students do, according to government statistics.

Meanwhile, the First Nations unemployment rate (around 17 per cent) is about four times the rate of the province as a whole (about 3.7 per cent)

Both the Saskatchewan Party government and the New Democrat Opposition say closing these kinds of disparities is vital because the success of the province is inextricably linked to it.

"This issue is a fundamental question of whether Saskatchewan will be successful in the future or not," said NDP leader Cam Broten.

"The moral imperative that it is not acceptable to have First Nations living in Third World conditions right here in Saskatchewan."

Broten noted in a recent interview he was at Fishing Lake First Nation recently and the school was essentially several portable classrooms strung together with a deck in front.

"There is an above-ground gas line which the kids put a board on and use as a teeter totter. There is no way that would happen for my kids in a Saskatoon school," he said. "It's morally wrong."

In a recent interview, Wall pointed to a number of initiatives his government has launched in connection with education and employment and aboriginal people.
 
"We have a labour shortage and the very first place we should look for new workers is not the temporary foreign worker program, it's not even the immigrant nominee program, it's Saskatchewan people," Wall said.

"If you have under-employment amongst a large population of Saskatchewan people, as we still do with First Nations or aboriginals, then we need to make that a priority."