Yukon ~ Pre-Symposium Paper
Prepared for “Working Connections: A Pan-Canadian Symposium on Career Development, Lifelong Learning and Workforce Development”
Yukon Context
The Yukon Territory is located entirely above the 60th parallel of latitude and occupies 4.8% of Canada’s land mass (482,512 sq. km.). It is the eighth largest of the provinces and territories. Only the four Atlantic provinces are smaller.
The 16 main communities of population in the Yukon are quite distinct and separate, as is the Yukon from the rest of Canada. The capital city, Whitehorse, is isolated by distance from any major Canadian city – 2697 km. from Vancouver and 2096 km. from Edmonton. The Alaska Highway is the only road artery to the Yukon. Air North and Air Canada provide daily air service into Whitehorse.
The population of the Yukon continues to decline, as has been the trend since 1997. Census data indicates that the population of the Yukon declined to 28,674 in 2001 from a high of 30,766 in 1996. The Statistics Canada population estimate for the Territory for 2002 is 29,924. The decline in population has affected the 18–34 year old age group and their school age children between 1 and 15 years of age most noticeably. The largest growing segment of the population is those between 44 and 64 years of age. Yukon residents aged 30–59 make up 50.1% of the total population. The smallest population group by age in the Yukon is those who are 60+ years old.
According to the 2001 Census, the Francophone population in the Yukon has decreased. As of 2001 there were approximately 890 Yukoners whose mother tongue is French, and 85 people who considered both official languages to be their mother tongue. This is a decline of 34% from 1996 when 1,355 people considered their mother tongue to be French. Individuals for whom both official languages are their mother tongue have decreased by 15% since 1996 when 100 people considered both languages to be their mother tongue.
The Yukon Bureau of Statistics indicates that 5,874 Aboriginals reside in the Yukon (June 2002). This is a difference from the figures reported in the 2001 Census data, which report 6,540. First Nations people represent approximately 20% of the Yukon’s population. In many communities, however, the First Nation population is closer to 75% or greater of the community’s overall population. In June 2002, approximately 50.3% of the Yukon’s First Nation people were under the age of 30.
There are 14 First Nations in Yukon. Since 1993, eight of these have signed land claim agreements under which they establish self-government. This has put very heavy demands on First Nations to build capacity within their communities in order to have well-educated people to carry out the duties required.
Government is the primary employer in the Yukon. Just under 40% of all those employed in the Yukon are employed by either the Federal, Territorial, Municipal or First Nations’ governments. The decline in resource based industry activity has resulted in even more dependency on government. In the past, mining was the stronghold of the economy. However, the Yukon’s economy now relies primarily on the service sector. The tourism industry plays a significant role in the Yukon’s economy, being the largest private sector employer in the Territory. The seasonal nature of tourism in the Yukon leads to varying levels of employment throughout the year. There is very little industry to support seasonal workers unemployed during the winter.
Career Development Services: Strengths & Challenges[i]
Generally, career development services in the Yukon Territory are mandated to serve specific client groups such as employment insurance recipients, public school students, government employees, and so on. There are a number of federal, territorial, and private sector resources and agencies that deliver services to the specific groups.
Yukon Public Schools deliver the Career and Personal Planning curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12. This curriculum has provided a framework (including dedicated time) for students and teachers to experience holistic career development theory and practice.
In addition to many excellent resources utilized in support of CAPP instruction (eg. Real Game Series, Blueprint, Second Step Social Skills and Child Abuse Prevention),
Yukon education at all levels enjoys terrific support from the private sector. Yukon employers consistently support work experience, cooperative education, job shadowing, job fairs, and apprenticeship programs.
The Yukon’s small population allows flexibility in ensuring the delivery of relevant information and resources, gives us the opportunity to work one-on-one with employers and other professionals, and allows us to take advantage of partnering to use available funds and other resources efficiently.
Absence of a systemic approach linking career development to socio/economic planning
Funding support, criteria for funding, and protocol between agencies and governments often serves to isolate practitioners and service providers. Duplication of services and resources occurs, and continuity in the provision of all aspects of career and labour force development services is difficult to achieve.
The quality, development, and delivery of career services seems to follow a ‘boom or bust' cycle. Information and data collection, programming, and delivery of services are dependent on:
1) The availability and commitment of qualified practitioners (many successful career development services, school to work transition, and career counselling services have been established only to fade out of existence if the dedicated service provider left the job or moved away).
2) The Yukon has a very small population but is accountable for delivering all of the services that the population enjoys, expects, or is entitled to in other Canadian jurisdictions. In the Yukon, one person often represents what are entire departments with multiple staff in other jurisdictions. This is a double edged sword – there is a tremendous advantage in having the opportunity and ability to see the big picture since individuals can see what needs to be done and how it should be done (including collaboration and cooperative activities), but there are often not enough people to do all the work.
There is a need for critical thinking and reframing of current approaches to the role career development plays in developing an inclusive, prepared workforce.
The effect of national programs often marginalizes northern/rural jurisdictions
1)The focus and 'project orientation' of the agencies that fund career and workforce development projects often dictate (especially in a small jurisdiction) the services that will or will not be provided. Essential resources for workforce development have had to be abandoned for lack of financial resources. For example, one challenge in the Yukon is insufficient data and information, particularly local information. Yukon WorkFutures, an important source (indeed, the only source) of accurate local data, was last published based on 1996 census data, and resources and capacity to update is limited.
2)The ‘project orientation’ approach forces the Yukon workforce development community into situations of being reactive in order to access funding. When new programs are supported nationally we must respond or lose access to funding – e.g. the Older Workers Project.
3)With a project orientation, true partnerships with government, business, and First Nations are more difficult to establish and the Yukon has even experienced parallel funding of projects with agencies and First Nations being funded for similar projects in the same physical jurisdiction.
In a larger context, federal dollars are allocated to support projects and specific approaches to the production and delivery of 'career information'. Resources developed nationally, however, are not always applicable to our small jurisdiction, which has limited economic development opportunities. A disconnect exists between the accurate career information people need, how people and practitioners use the information, and how and in what format the information is produced and marketed. For example, the Yukon has derived very little benefit from materials and programs produced by Sector Councils because the content may be irrelevant or produced in a format that cannot be used easily.
The Yukons’ demography and unique population presents challenges to the design, development, and delivery of career development services and programs. These challenges include:
- occupational and career information needs to be translated into First Nations perspectives and context;
- meeting the requirement for French language translation of many of the resources and services;
- workforce literacy issues;
- growing social issues;
- more than 70% of Yukon businesses have 10 or fewer employees so they do not have the capacity to provide career development support or resources; and
- Yukon communities do not have equal access to technology although the Yukon is very well connected, per capita, relative to the rest of the country.
The Yukon Territory is a small jurisdiction with many professionals and employers dedicated to career development, lifelong learning, and the ongoing formation of a healthy, flexible, inclusive and well trained workforce. It is an evolving and ongoing challenge to develop the theoretical, analytical, and systemic understanding of the role and relationship of career development in life long learning and in true labour force participation.
Yukon Pre-Symposium PaperPage 1 of 4
October 31, 2003
[i]The position of the Yukon cannot accurately be presented in this document because of the inter-governmental protocols that are in place requiring consultation with First Nations.