This action research project set about to determine current practices for providing Employment counselling across rural and northern Manitoba. Research has indicated the rural and northern worker providing these services does not have equal access to supports, resources, referral agencies, or training opportunities available in more urban centres.
Utilizing an Appreciative Inquiry approach, rural and northern Manitoba employment counsellors working for First Nations reserves, and the Manitoba government, discussed job and system supports they felt were necessary to their jobs. Key stakeholders worked collaboratively with participants establishing conclusions and recommendations for action. The group determined human resource supports needed and discovered a gap in overall responsibility for pre-employment literacy. Recommendations suggest a nation wide campaign to address the needs of Aboriginal Job Seekers along with partnership strategies to address the absence of a labour market and a provincial strategy to address training and job guidelines for ECs across Manitoba.