This community-based research project was a collaboration between the literacy councils of NWT, Nunavut, Labrador and Yukon.

We intended to open dialogue about northern indigenous men’s experiences with learning and work. We wanted to better understand the barriers that northern First Nations, Inuit and Métis men face and, most important, what will help them succeed.

We hope the research will lead to more effective programming and policies to support northern Indigenous men in learning, work and well-being.

The Yukon Literacy Coalition partnered with the NWT Literacy Council and Ilitaqsiniq - the Nunavut Literacy Council on a collaborative agreement with the Northern Alliance on Literacy & Essential Skills (NALES) to complete a three-year project called “Strengthening Literacy and Essential Skills Development and Labour Market Outcomes across Northern Canada for Adults with Low Skills Levels."

The goal of this project was to strengthen literacy and essential skills development and to improve market outcomes across the north. The team reached out to Aboriginal youth and adults, both men and women, who were out-of-school or unemployed with low levels of literacy and essential skills in the remote north. Throughout this project, Aboriginal youth and adults had the opportunity to develop more transferable skills, become more employable, increase their access to the labour market, and experience more success within the northern economy.

The Yukon Literacy Coalition, NWT Literacy Council, and Ilitaqsiniq-the Nunavut Literacy Council jointly organized the Made in the North: Policy & Practices Exchange on Skills Development forum, which was held in Yellowknife, NWT, from October 23 to 25, 2012. Adult educators, employers, policy makers, language experts, literacy practitioners, aboriginal and community leaders, and others working in the area of literacy and essential skills development in the three territories and Labrador attended the forum.

The purpose of the gathering was to support made-in-the-north approaches to adult learning, including literacy and essential skills; the sharing of ideas and resources; and the creation of a northern action network. The event was funded by the Government of Canada’s Office of Literacy and Essential Skills; Government of the Northwest Territories’ Department of Education, Culture and Employment; Government of Nunavut’s Department of Education; and Yukon Territorial Government’s Labour Market Programs and Services, Advanced Education.

With the support of the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES), the Yukon Literacy Coalition (YLC) undertook a project that would assess Yukon community stakeholder interests related to workplace and workforce literacy and essential skills (LES). Through consultations, the YLC heard about models and principles that could move the expanding field of workforce and workplace (LES) forward in the territory. A literature review was also carried out, as well as a scan of past and present workforce and workplace LES initiatives in Yukon.