The presence of aboriginal people in Saskatchewan has led to several government and private sector initiatives aimed at facilitating the participation of aboriginal people in modern industrial society. A case study was performed on Cameco Corporation, the largest mining company in Northern Saskatchewan, to find out if and how government and private sector initiatives to increase the participation of aboriginal people in the northern mining industry are working. Emphasis was put on defining the status of aboriginal employees within Cameco's mining workforce with respect to job training, promotion, job position, wage rate, and job satisfaction. A simple quantitative evaluation of survey responses was used to establish the position of Cameco's aboriginal/northern employees among their non-aboriginal co-workers and among the typical population residing in the northern part of the province.<p>In 1994, 42.3% of Cameco's employees at the mine sites were of aboriginal ancestry. Based on Cameco's 1994 employee survey, it was found that relative to the typical person residing in the North, Cameco northern/aboriginal employees had a higher level of schooling, more full time work activity, and a higher employment income. Relative to their colleagues, aboriginal Cameco workers were younger, less educated, fewer years employed and more representative in low skill level/low paying jobs. Aboriginal people were provided with more job training, received more promotions, and had a slightly lower overall job satisfaction.<p>Based on these findings, OLS and Logit multiple regression analyses were performed to identify how much of the difference between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Cameco workers, regarding employment related issues, could actually be explained by aboriginal ethnicity. Results showed that, when compared to their colleagues, aboriginal people were more likely to be promoted and to receive job training. However, aboriginal people were less likely to be employed in high level job positions and to earn a high wage rate.
Many results are positive indicators of successful government and private sector initiatives to improve aboriginal peoples' employability by extensive human resource development programs in accordance with recent Surface Lease Agreements. Nevertheless, as shown by this example from the mining industry, the achievement of equal opportunities and of a fully equalized job distribution between aboriginal and non-aboriginal employees will be a long-term process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-06272007-112529 |
| Date | 03 July 2007 |
| Creators | Hadersbeck, Sandra Andrea |
| Contributors | St. Louis, Larry, Paus-Jenssen, Arne, Huq, M. Mobinul |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-06272007-112529/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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