Ermineskin Cree Nation gas station now employing full aboriginal staff – The Globe and Mail

Nov. 30 2014

The gas station in Ermineskin Cree Nation has undergone a transformation. A new owner has given it a facelift, and the 15-member staff is now all aboriginal, mostly from the four reserves that surround Maskwacis in central Alberta.

At first blush, it seems like a given that a gas bar on a First Nation would employ indigenous people to work the cash register and pump gas, especially in a community where an estimated seven of 10 adults don’t have a job.

But that was not the case until Neyaskweyak Group of Companies (NGCI) took over the business in April. Like a cafeteria owner in the Maskwacis Mall, the previous gas-station operator went outside the area’s reserves for labour. In fact, the cafeteria’s non-aboriginal owner looked all the way overseas, hiring temporary foreign workers with the federal government’s blessing, The Globe and Mail recently revealed.

(What is the temporary foreign worker program? Read The Globe’s easy explanation)

Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/ermineskin-cree-nation-gas-station-now-employing-full-aboriginal-staff/article21840746/