Getting the skills you need to get the job you want can be challenging. That’s where Aboriginal Skills Navigator Brock Endean can help. 

Brock, 26, is Métis and over the course of his career he has worked extensively with Indigenous youth, post-secondary students, community leaders, and industry professionals to close the skills gap and increase the training capacity of Aboriginal communities. 

In his current role with the Aboriginal Labour Market Community Navigator project, Brock is working with training providers and support organizations in the Lower Mainland to better connect and design programs that meet the unique needs of local First Nations communities.

Brock provides services to seven lower mainland First Nations communities. He also helps Aboriginal people located in urban areas outside of specific First Nations communities access skills training opportunities. This involves canvassing Aboriginal Friendship Centres and working with counselors and organizers.  A big part of his job is supporting First Nations members in finding the right pathways to training and employment.

 “Many First Nations members and urban Aboriginal people will hear about programs, but they don’t have details or know how to access the training they want,” says Brock. “We help connect them to that training and get them the information they need.”   

Although most of the Navigators work is focused on ensuring more First Nations members are able to get the training needed for employment in the LNG sector, Brock also advises his clients  that the training and skills they can acquire are transferable to other industries.   

 “For example, the skills you might need for certain LNG industry jobs, such as driver certification, first aid and traffic control, are also needed in other fields and are transferable. So is a certain level of essential skills in literacy and math.”  

Introduced in January, the Aboriginal Labour Market Community Navigator project is designed to ensure more Aboriginal people in B.C. benefit from skills training and related job opportunities in the LNG sector. The program is receiving $3.5 million in funding over the next three years.  The funds are being provided by the federal government to the New Relationship Trust which manages the program. Through it, seven navigators and one coordinator are supporting Aboriginal people in gaining better access to training and jobs in growing industrial sectors.

In conjunction with B.C.’s Skills for Jobs Blueprint, it is anticipated that Brock and the other Navigators will provide services to nearly 50 First Nations communities annually.

Through work and volunteer projects, Brock brings experience and perspective to address the many challenges Aboriginal communities face in regards to economic activity, skilled employment opportunities, access to training, and youth engagement.

Raised in Chase, B.C., Brock understands the challenge of keeping young people in their home communities and the need for community-based skills training. “I’ve seen the results of skills training and what it can do for people. My goal is making sure more First Nations members are able to access the programs they need and we are closing the skills gap in all of the communities we serve.”