University College of the North (UCN), like many in the North, has observed that the impact of COVID‐19 has been more severe in Winnipeg than it has in Northern Manitoba. UCN is proud to find and provide resources to help all Manitobans. We are all rowing together. It is also inevitable that the pandemic will end. When it does – whenever it does – UCN will again row with all Manitobans, this time in helping the recovery.
Before the pandemic, the north’s economic future looked stable. Investments in the resource sector and investment by Arctic Gateway Group in transportation were creating jobs and contributing to Manitoba’s economic growth. While it remains to be seen exactly what the post‐COVID economy looks like, our natural resources and the need to transport them to market are still there. After the pandemic, there will be private sector jobs in the resources sector. Those jobs require skills and training.
The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of jobs we often don’t think of: truck drivers, delivery people, grocery store staff, and so on. Such positions were hard to fill before the pandemic. After the pandemic, there will be private sector jobs in the north. Those jobs require skills and training.
Before the pandemic, there was a critical shortage of nurses and other medical professionals in the north. Before the pandemic, the federal government was working with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) on devolving responsibility for Indigenous healthcare in Northern Manitoba, and the $500 million envelope that supports this critical activity. The pandemic has only served to highlight the value of healthcare workers to our collective wellbeing. After the pandemic, there will be healthcare jobs in the north. Those jobs require skills and training.
UCN stands ready to do its part during the pandemic. But UCN also knows that the post‐COVID economic recovery requires skills and training. We live in the present but we must consider our future as well. There are critical needs for the short term, and critical needs for the long term. Both are just as important. It is right that we row as hard as we can right now, but this is a marathon, not a sprint: we need to be able to row hard for a long time to recover from COVID‐19 socially and economically. UCN is contributing what it can now so it can contribute what it can in the long term.
Edwin Jebb is the Chancellor for the University College of the North and a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation band council.
