About this Paper

In the course of its ongoing work the Nunavut Literacy Council identified low literacy levels as a barrier to employment for many Nunavummiut, including youth. This paper is the result of a research project to identify:

• Other barriers that face youth seeking employment in Nunavut;
• Re-engaging marginalized youth in education, employment and community life; and
• The extent that literacy is a barrier to youth employment.

The research is based on the following assumptions:

• Literacy is the foundation upon which people learn other skills.
• People need other essential employment skills, even for low-skilled jobs.
• Not all youth will participate in formal skills training to prepare to participate in the paid labour market.
• Not all youth will be interested in preparing to participate in the paid labour market.

To carry out the research:

• We facilitated two focus groups in each of three Nunavut communities: Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay, and Iqaluit. The focus groups took place in February 2006.
• We interviewed individuals who wanted to participate in the project, but were unable to attend the focus groups.
• We developed two questionnaires to guide interviews and focus groups: one for employers and educators and one for youth in and outside the labour market. See Appendix A for the questionnaires.

Nunavut organizations participating in the Northern Workplace/Workforce Literacy Partnership reviewed the questionnaires and identified potential participants for the focus groups. These groups included Nunavut Arctic College, the Department of Education, the Municipal Training Organization and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI).

Appendix B has a list of individuals that attended focus groups and who agreed to have their names included in this report. Other participants agreed to take part in the interviews, but did not agree to have their names published.

Fifty-four people provided insights into employment barriers for youth in Nunavut, including youth, representatives from Nunavut Arctic College, secondary schools, 10 businesses and four literacy training programs. This paper reflects their insights.

The research report includes information from a review of scholarly, popular and government literature on the northern economy, employment trends and requirements, Inuit culture, approaches to work and learning, and history. The literature review informed the questionnaires and the report’s analysis.

The research paper was the subject of discussion at a half-day workshop held in Iqaluit in March 2007. The purpose of the workshop was to identify additional barriers and recommendations and to determine how to move forward to implement the recommendations. Appendix C includes a list of workshop participants.