Hay River, Behchokǫ̀ and other regional centres excluded from N.W.T. employment funding program

Recent changes to an N.W.T. government funding program mean several communities are no longer eligible, and that's led to unexpected challenges for some business owners. 

The Small Communities Employment Support program is a popular source of funding across the territory for short-term hires like summer students. Previously, it was open to all N.W.T. communities except Yellowknife.

Now other regional centres — including Hay River, Behchokǫ̀, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Norman Wells and Fort Simpson — have also been excluded.

The Hay River Golf Club has been affected by the recent change. In previous years, the Town of Hay River applied for the funding and then distributed it locally.

Mike King, president of the Hay River Golf Club, said the club relied on the funding program to cover the cost of hiring summer students.

"The summer student program is great for the students," he said. "Small business owners rely on summer students to help, and maybe get a couple days off during the summer."

King said the club will now cover the cost of the summer students from its overall budget. That leaves less money for some scheduled improvements at the golf course and clubhouse.

"It'll affect us on the budget this year and improvements we had planned," he said. "So now any of those improvements will be delayed and have to be re-budgeted again in future financial years."

King said the club will now be looking for other ways to increase its revenue, such as changing membership fees or cutting down on summer employment opportunities in the future.

"We'll have to assess our financial position on a number of fronts," King said. "Our membership might be funding a portion of the government's contribution."

He's also frustrated with how late the announcement was made. It came in late July after summer employment was already secured for the season.

"That's the most frustrating part of it. We already had students hired, the summer's almost over, and then the announcement comes when there was no real indication that that might not happen."

Glenn Smith, Hay River's senior administrative officer, told CBC News that the town asked that the changes be reversed until "a more fulsome consultation" was done with communities and stakeholders, but was told that the decision was final.

Funding maintained, eligibility changed

Haley Mathisen, acting director of labour development and standards for the N.W.T. department of Education, Culture, and Employment (ECE), says the changes to the funding program were made at the direction of MLAs after there was an earlier proposal to reduce the level of funding for the program. 

The department had proposed to cut the program's budget by $1.1 million, but a legislative committee ultimately decided to maintain the budget and instead change the eligibility requirements.

"They asked that the funding be restored to the previous funding level, and that new parameters be included to ensure funding was provided to small communities, as opposed to regional centres," Mathisen said.

Mathisen also said there was a delay in announcing the eligibility change because of a delay in passing the territory's 2024-25 budget. She said the department couldn't sign new contribution agreements until the budget was passed in June. 

"After the budget passed and we had the direction of how the funding was to be used, that was when the regional centres found out that the eligibility had changed," she said.

Mathisen encourages businesses to reach out to their ECE regional service centres to look into other job programs that could help, even if they aren't just for summer students. 

"We do have other labour market programs that may not apply specifically to summer students, but may be able to help them in other ways," she said.