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Paul Martin aims to rekindle the innovative spark of indigenous students

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By Roderick Benns

Last year was a time of great expansion for former Prime Minister Paul Martin’s entrepreneurial program for indigenous high school students, including 11 new schools in Ontario and a further expansion into the heart of Alberta’s oil sands.

The Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative works to improve elementary and secondary school education outcomes for indigenous Canadians by implementing specific programs, which includes an entrepreneurial program for students in Grades 11 and 12.

Mr. Martin most recently brought Composite High School into the program’s fold in Fort McMurray, Alberta, where massive oil sands development has the potential to employ hundreds of young indigenous people once they leave high school.

Composite High is the second high school in Fort McMurray to implement Mr. Martin’s program. Two years ago, Father Patrick Mercredi High School was the first.

“These two schools in the heart of Alberta’s oil sands are very important, given the huge entrepreneurial background of First Nations and Metis people now serving the oil sands,” says Mr. Martin.

In an interview with Leaders and Legacies, Mr. Martin harkens back to the “tremendous entrepreneurial skill” of indigenous people who lived here before European settlers. He points out the huge amount of trade that was done between First Nations peoples all over the Americas, and how that only grew and developed further with the growth of Metis populations.

“In the case of both schools (in Fort McMurray), the schools’ administration have great insight into how entrepreneurship can help indigenous peoples because of the activity in the area,” says Mr. Martin, in reference to the huge oil sands industry.

According to the Oil Sands Community Alliance, there were more than 1,700 Aboriginal employees in permanent operations jobs in the oil sands industry in 2010. Over the past 14 years, Aboriginal companies have earned over $8 billion in revenue through working relationships with the oil sands industry. As well, oil sands companies have made numerous scholarships and bursaries available for Aboriginal students.

Now in 46 high schools across Canada, in seven provinces and one territory, Mr. Martin’s entrepreneurial program aims to improve students’ proficiency in business, math, financial literacy, accounting, marketing, information and communications technology, and social responsibility, as well as the development of leadership skills.

The program has gained a lot of respect since it was introduced in the Thunder Bay area in 2007. Earlier last year the government of Ontario committed $1.35 million to support the Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneurship Program in 10 additional high schools across the province.

 

 

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