Major economic developments are, we are being told, coming to northern Manitoba, focusing on the port of Churchill and the railway system that leads to it, and the production and export via that port of various commodities. Many challenges, particularly environmental, lie along that path, and they deserve particularly serious consideration if any development is to proceed.

One aspect of northern development about which almost nothing has been said is: “Who will do the work in the north?”

For decades past and still today, great reliance has been placed on bringing skilled tradespeople and other skilled workers to northern Manitoba from the south. The result has been that not only has the bulk of corporate profits been drained south, but so too have wages. As a result, rates of poverty are higher and formal educational levels are lower in the north than elsewhere in Manitoba. This is obviously detrimental to the north and particularly to those who live in the north.

If northerners themselves are to benefit from economic development in the north by forming the skilled labour force that will be needed, then we will need more of those northerners to be educationally prepared to undertake training for skilled employment.

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