Dan Daniels
Deputy Minister of Education Culture and Employment
Government of the Northwest Territories

Good morning and welcome. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this conference. Essential Skills are vitally important to adult learning. Not only are they the building blocks for further learning, but they also ensure adults have the right skills for changing work and life demands. They help people to not only get in the door but to get them in many other doorways of opportunity.

Dan Daniels

The theme of this conference Integrating Essential Skills into Training Materials follows up last year’s Essential Skills and the Northern Oil and Gas Workforce conference. One of this conference’s goals is to build capacity in the area of essential skills training amongst practitioners and trainers in the Northwest Territories. Improved understanding of this area will enable the implementation of effective programs that will meet the needs of learners, workers and employers.

The Department’s strategic plan, Building on our Success, emphasizes the need for creating and improving the socio-economic standards of people across the North. Education, training, and skills acquisition are foundational for creating those conditions.

Skills shortages continue to create challenges in several major industries in the north. Employers need employees who have the ability to adapt to change and transfer skills from job to job.

Effective training programs will lead to a better return on the investment to be made in training for northern-based workers.

I can see from the agenda there are many good opportunities for accessing your allies, networking, information sharing and hands-on learning during this conference. I commend the organizing committee as well as all the presenters and participants for their contribution in bringing this conference to fruition.

Enjoy learning and sharing your knowledge and experiences with each other.

I sincerely hope that the next 2 days will provide you with valuable new approaches and resources to take back to your workplace and communities.