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This document outlines a plan for improving post-secondary opportunities and outcomes for First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples in British Columbia, Canada. It sets out a vision, principles and goals, informed by evidence-based policies and leading practices, to address systemic barriers and support systemic institutional change to support Aboriginal learners. The framework places an emphasis on several key program areas, but it is important to note the framework is broad-based and encompasses all post-secondary education and training programs, including adult basic education, vocational, career, business, trades, undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

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Indigenous peoples are diverse, within and across nations. However, the Indigenous peoples have experienced colonisation processes that have undermined Indigenous young people's access to their identity, language and culture. At the same time, Indigenous children have not generally had access to the same quality of education that other children in their country have had access to. These two forces in combination have undermined the educational opportunities and outcomes of successive generations of Indigenous children and young people, at times with catastrophic effect. The six Canadian provinces and territories that participated in this study, along with New Zealand and Queensland (Australia), are actively seeking to better meet the educational needs and aspirations of Indigenous students and their families.

The report seeks to identify promising strategies, policies, programmes and practices that support improved learning outcomes for Indigenous students and to build an empirical evidence base on Indigenous students in education. The study investigates four areas in Indigenous education: well-being, participation, engagement and achievement in education. These outcomes are inter-connected and mutually reinforcing, and each is essential for the success of every student.

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Inspired by Sen's capability approach and the intersectional perspective, we examine how guidance professionals facilitate or hinder the conversion of resources into capabilities and functionings of marginalized students. Thematic analysis of 19 life story interviews with Indigenous female students in two Canadian universities illustrates how guidance counsellors can be facilitators for students in developing their capabilities to reach the path they envision. Conversely, they can be a hindrance by their absence or if they do not understand the realities, including systemic barriers and needs of marginalized students. Such students require sensitive proactive service delivery and interventions that address systemic barriers.

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In industrialized countries worldwide, it is predicted that industry in general, and the construction industry in particular, will face a serious shortfall of skilled workers in the next decade. Global competition for skilled workers will intensify as a result. The projected declines in skilled labour will be driven by demographic trends and national up-skilling strategies that promote university education over other educational pathways to prepare for global competition in the knowledge economy. In response, the Canadian construction industry is taking steps to expand the domestic labour pool by improving access to industry careers by older workers, Aboriginal peoples, immigrants and women. Despite successful initiatives to increase the numbers of women in the construction industry, the rate of their participation, particularly in the trades and onsite construction management, has not grown significantly over time. To address this problem, questions about the challenges and barriers women face must be reopened. This research examines the barriers, as well as good practices that could be implemented to overcome them. The Construction Sector Council conducted this research between 2008 and 2009 using literature review, secondary data analysis, a survey, interviews and focus groups. The purpose of the research was to guide industry in establishing benchmarks for change and to document the good practices needed to achieve it.

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In June 2011, women in skilled trade and technology careers made up less than three per cent of the total Canadian workforce. As baby boomers prepare to retire over the next five to 10 years, it is estimated that 40 per cent of current tradespeople will need to be replaced. This will have an immediate impact on Canada's infrastructure. The crisis associated with critical shortages of skilled workers makes it imperative that government, educators and industry take a cohesive approach to solving the problem of skilled worker shortages and do everything possible to attract women to the skilled trades and technologies. This position paper from Skills Canada - Ontario and Women in Nuclear Canada (WiN Canada) provides recommendations for education, government and business on how to address female employee and skills shortages in Canada. It addresses the myths and realities around women working in the skilled trades and technologies and offers recommendations for positive change.

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In 2013, the Heinrich Boll Foundation launched a report that discussed the [Group of Twenty’s] G20’s strategies and their likely effects on gender equality, [proposing] that their approach to gender is overly narrow. This paper builds on this work by examining the links between economic and gender inequality, women’s rights, and inclusive growth. The paper argues that the G20 should treat gender inequality as a core systemic issue. It considers whether the G20’s governance and main frameworks are consistent with these commitments, looking at case studies in selected G20 countries. The paper provides recommendations on actions that the G20 could take to advance women’s economic and social rights. These are that the G20: (1) treats gender inequality as a systemic issue, including in governance and accountability mechanisms; (2) promotes gender-equitable fiscal policy; and (3) ensures decent work and social protection. Practical suggestions are proposed for each of these actions.

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The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. Show less

Mentoring has been viewed as an invaluable learning activity for beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Today, mentoring programs are commonplace in public sector departments in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and many other countries. While they operate to support new staff, equip existing and/or aspiring leaders with knowledge and skills, and are targeted at supporting the career development and opportunities of members of minority groups, mentoring programs have in common the desire to contribute to the learning and growth of mentors and mentees. This paper endeavours to paint a picture of the nature and scope of formalised mentoring programs as they operate within the public sector. More specifically, it reports on the findings of an analysis of 17 research-based papers published between 1991 and 2003 that focus on mentoring in the public sector. Based on an analysis of these research-based studies, this paper identifies both positive and negative issues associated with mentoring for the key players concerned.

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Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.162 and TD/TNC 90.163. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.164 to TD/TNC 90.211. Show less

Employment is a crucial step in achieving independence and independent living for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) during the transition to adulthood. However, there is limited information about perspective of stakeholders including youth on the spectrum with respect to employment. Thus, we aimed to explore stakeholders' experiences about employment of youth with ASD. We interviewed 23 stakeholders, including 4 youths with ASD, 16 parents of individuals with ASD, and 3 service providers who worked with individuals with ASD.

Using thematic analysis, three themes emerged including: (a) functional skills and apprenticeships, (b) accommodations to maintain the job, and (c) advocating for opportunities and taking initiatives. Our findings suggest that in addition to functional challenges that youth with ASD may face within the workplace, a lack of community understanding towards their needs resulted in an exacerbation of the challenges. However, advocating for opportunities and taking initiatives have been considered to help obtain employment. This study consolidates employment experiences among youth with ASD and suggests that the difficulty achieving positive employment outcomes is multi-dimensional due to the effects of disability, workplace, and institutional regulations. This study can inform the development of programs to support employment of individuals with ASD.

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Although post-secondary enrolment and completion rates for Aboriginal people have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, they remain significantly lower than those of non-Aboriginal Canadians. Within this context, this paper examines Aboriginal post-secondary education through the eyes of stakeholders working in the field, describing practices and initiatives believed to help increase enrolment and completion rates. The paper explains the barriers to Aboriginal participation, outlines various initiatives put in place to make postsecondary education more affordable to Aboriginal peoples, and others that have been used to make postsecondary education more accessible, relevant and responsive to Aboriginal peoples. For the most part, stakeholders had positive things to say about all of these initiatives; they generally recommended that such programs be enhanced and expanded. Throughout the paper, comparative examples drawn from Australia, New Zealand and the United States are used to show that the issues surrounding Aboriginal post-secondary education are not unique to Canada, and that educators have learned similar lessons in all four countries.

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Youth Futures is a community-based intervention intended to improve post-secondary education (PSE) access rates among high school youth from low-income families, who tend to be under-represented in higher education (Berger, Motte, & Parkin, 2009; Norrie & Zhao, 2011). The bilingual (French and English) program spans seven months and consists of mentoring by university students, leadership training, workplace training and skill development activities, paid summer employment, and exposure to college and university settings. This thesis examined the outcomes of the Youth Futures program through three distinct studies.

First, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate short-term outcomes among program participants (N = 44, mean age of 16 years old at baseline) in comparison to a group of their peers (N = 40, mean age of 16 years old at baseline). Second, a qualitative study was conducted with a purposeful sample of program participants (N = 20, mean age of 17 years old) to explore their first-hand experiences through semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Third, program alumni (N = 79, mean age of 19 years old) were briefly interviewed via telephone to investigate longer-term outcomes, including employment experience and enrolment and persistence in PSE.

Overall, no evidence was found to suggest that exposure to the Youth Futures program contributed to increased access to PSE among participants. Some characteristics of the Youth Futures sample recruited in the three studies raised questions about whether participants were at risk of not accessing PSE in the absence of the intervention (Berger et al., 2009; Childs, Finnie & Mueller, 2015; Finnie, Childs, & Wismer, 2011). Findings indicated several program improvement strategies that may be useful in modifying the Youth Futures program to ensure that students in need of the intervention receive tailored programming and that the timing of the intervention is effective. Experts have called for a stronger evidence base in this area to facilitate sound decision-making about which potential program models to establish or expand and how to match students to the programs that best address their particular needs (Barnett et al., 2012; Brock, 2010; Le, Mariano, & Faxon-Mills, 2016; Shultz & Mueller 2006; Tierney & Hagedorn, 2007).

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