Machine eases search

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Can finding a job be as easy as using an instant teller machine at a bank?

It can if you visit the Be-Wab-Bon Metis and Non-Status Indian Association office in Port McNicoll, the site of a Canada Employment Centre job bank machine.

The automated job bank machine offers a wide range of information including news from the local Canada Employment Centre; an inventory of current job vacancies, both locally and from across Canada, and information about government programs such as Canada pension, old age security, immigration, income tax, unemployment insurance and veterans' benefits.

"It's really a big step forward for Aboriginal people," says Rick Henderson, president of Be-Wab-Bon.

Port McNicoll, about 175 kilometres north of Toronto, is home to 1,850 people. The major employer used to be Canadian Pacific, but when the railway packed up, the unemployment rate went to 63 per cent. There is no industry in the village, Henderson says, and his association is the largest employer, with eight full-time staff.

Since the machine was installed at the beginning of February, between 45 and 65 people a day have been using it to search for jobs.

A major stumbling block for job seekers is the fact there is no transportation out

of the village except for private vehicle or taxi. "If they find a job and it's in some other town, we'll find arrangements to get them there," Henderson says.

The Be-Wab-Bon service is available to all Port McNicoll residents, along with many of the other programs, including all job placement services.

The Regional Aboriginal Management Board of Ontario plans to purchase another 45 job banks, at about $5,000 per unit, to allow easy access to employment opportunities for Aboriginal peoples. As of December, 1994, there were only 50 remote units outside of Canada Employment Centres in Ontario.

For more information contact the association at (705) 534-7201.