How Indigenous Youth are bouncing back from the pandemic
The non-governmental organization my group is working with is UNYA, the Urban Native Youth Association. I chose an article that talks about what shift some indigenous youth in Canada have made in terms of their future employment. This article discusses the benefit of organizations such as the Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS). Following the pandemic, indigenous youth in this context, like most groups, have experienced employment loss, reduced hours, and other issues that have led to many changing fields. ACCESS actually fully funds opportunities for these youth to learn new trades and find new types of employment that can pay better, give them better hours, and are more in alignment with what they are looking for.
What I found especially interesting, and relating to our work with UNYA, is that the rates of unemployment are currently still affecting non-Indigenous groups at a higher rate than indigenous groups. The indigenous population in Canada is growing at a rate four times faster than Canada’s non-indigenous population, and “over the next decade, 750,000 Indigenous young people will graduate from school and start their careers”. Although following COVID-19 there seem to be some improvements in this area, there are still some roadblocks facing this population.
One issue that I saw a few other articles about is the lack of high speed internet in many areas. 75% of households in First Nation communities do not have access to high speed internet. Thankfully, by 2030 the federal government has ensured that high speed internet will be accessible to all. This is still something that may be affecting the youth in our program.
