Both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day take place on September 30 each year. At ATB Financial, we are committed to understanding the harmful intergenerational impacts of residential schools on Indigenous Peoples and honouring the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. By working together, we can create a more prosperous and inclusive future for Indigenous Peoples, and all Albertans.

Achieving full economic participation for Indigenous Peoples requires the racist and paternalistic foundations of the residential schools are not only understood and rejected, but also a commitment to a new vision based on mutual respect that includes, but is not limited to, addressing systemic barriers and investing in education and skills development.

As part of ATB’s commitment to advancing Truth and Reconciliation, ATB and MNP partnered last year on an initiative to better understand the economic contributions of Indigenous Peoples to Alberta’s economy. The study ‒ Opening the Door to Opportunity II ‒ analyzes how opportunities for Indigenous entrepreneurship and greater labour market participation are key to closing the gap between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population in Alberta.

The opportunities highlighted in the report remain relevant today: 

• Elevate opportunities: Closing income gaps requires facilitating transitions into higher-skill, higher-paying roles and fostering entrepreneurship.
• Invest in education: To enable Indigenous individuals to access better job opportunities, educational disparities must be addressed.
• Support entrepreneurship: Investment in capital, networks and capacity-building initiatives is necessary to overcome barriers to entrepreneurship.

Recognizing the continued importance of labour market engagement one year on from the report’s publishing, the following bullet points highlight updated labour market trends specific to the off-reserve Indigenous population aged 15 and over in Alberta using the results of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.* Comparable data for the on-reserve Indigenous population is, unfortunately, not available.

• The Indigenous population has increased from 4.0% of Alberta’s working-age population (ages 15 and over) in 2006 (which is as far back as the data series goes) to 5.4% last year.
• The Indigenous population’s share of total provincial employment also increased over this period, going from 3.7% in 2006 to 5.0% in 2024.
• Indigenous employment was 16.3% higher than its pre-pandemic level (2019) versus an increase of 9.7% for non-Indigenous residents.
• For the first time since the data series began, the participation rate** of the Indigenous population rose above the non-Indigenous rate in 2022 and 2023, but fell back below the non-Indigenous level by 2.3 points last year.
• Although lower than the historical average of 5.1 percentage points, the gap between the unemployment rate of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population remained in place last year at 3.8. In 2024, the Indigenous unemployment rate was 10.6% compared to 6.8% for the non-Indigenous population.

*Includes persons who reported having an Indigenous identity, that is, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit), or those who reported more than one identity. Excluded from the survey’s coverage are persons living on First Nation reserves and other Métis settlements.

**The participation rate is the percentage of the working age population that is either working or actively looking for work. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force (those working or actively looking for work) that is unemployed.

Answer to the previous trivia question: In the Blackfoot language, the Calgary area is called Moh’kinstsis. Other Indigenous names for the area include The Métis call the Calgary area Otos-kwunee; the Îethka Nakoda Wîcastabi refer to it as Wicispa Oyade and the people of the Tsuut’ina nation refer to it as Guts’ists’i.

Today’s trivia question: In what year was the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation recognized in Canada?