Yukon extends Indigenous hiring preference initiative

The Yukon government has announced that it is extending its hiring preference initiative until the end of 2029 to further hike the number of Indigenous employees in the public service sector.

"By extending the programme, the Government of Yukon hopes to meet the programme goal of increasing Indigenous representation in the public service to 22%," according to the government announcement.

The programme was initially launched in October 2020 for a pilot run, giving hiring preference to qualified candidates who self-identify as either Yukon First Nation or another Canadian Aboriginal ancestry.

According to the provincial government, it launched the hiring preference with the following reasons in consideration:

• increasing the representation of Aboriginal people within the public service in a range of occupations and pay levels
• strengthening relationships between Yukon and First Nation governments
• making Yukon’s public service a desirable place for Aboriginal people to work

It has so far successfully helped 78 Indigenous candidates across a total of 632 competitions, including new employees and existing employees who moved to a new position within the government.

However, preliminary findings from the initiative revealed that the Indigenous representation "did not change significantly during the 18-month period." In fact, representation within the government remained at 15% on October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.

On top of that, the overall Yukon government even reported seeing a "slight decrease in Indigenous employees." It yielded no negative impact on border recruitment, however, with no decrease in applicants.

Read more: How employers can bolster Indigenous hiring

Yukon Public Service Commission Minister John Streicker said that it is important for the Yukon government to reflect the diversity of its population and the communities it serves.

Government data revealed that 22.1% of Yukon's population are members of Indigenous groups as of 2021. However, 15% of employees self-identify as Indigenous as of 2020.

The Indigenous hiring preference initiative is part of the government's Breaking Trail Together programme, with is a 10-year strategic plan to make Yukon public service inclusive and representative of Yukon First Nation people.

"Breaking Trail Together is our plan to increase the number of Aboriginal employees in government. We developed the plan in collaboration with Yukon First Nation governments," said the government.

"Aboriginal people are identified as an employment equity group. This initiative allows us to move towards our goal of a representative public service," it added.