town profiles
Cypress County communities
Dunmore ◗ Population (2016): 514 ◗ Land Area: 2.41 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: Cypress County ◗ Unincorporated
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Dunmore Dugout Family Fun Centre
Desert Blume ◗ Population (2016): 473 ◗ Land Area: 0.38 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Real Estate ◗ Largest Employer: Desert Blume Golf Club ◗ Unincorporated ◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Desert Blume Golf Club
Elkwater ◗ Population (2016): 84 ◗ Land Area: 2.83 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Tourism ◗ Largest Employer: Government of Alberta ◗ Unincorporated ◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Cypress Hills Provincial Park
◗ Motto: “Where the pines meet the prairie skies.” (Park motto)
Hilda ◗ Population (2016): 45 ◗ Land Area: 0.44 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: Cypress County ◗ Unincorporated
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Sandy Point Park, Hilda Mud Bog
Irvine ◗ Population (2011): 291* ◗ Land Area: ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture ◗ Largest Employer: Prairie Rose School Division ◗ Unincorporated
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Prairie Memories Museum, 20 Mile Post Days
20 *Estimate provided by Cypress County TONYA LAMBERT
as it benefits everyone – employee, employer and the community in general. In Medicine Hat, great strides have been made over the past 30 years towards creating a more diverse workforce. However, there is still more that can be done, especially in regards to providing employment to local First Nations people.
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“Valuing diversity means recognizing and respecting human differences,” says Rita Bessant, executive director of CORE Association.
In a diverse workplace, everyone is valued and given equal opportunities to contribute to the success of the company and the community. A diverse workforce also ensures that the needs of all members of the community are being met. When people of diverse ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds work together, it helps to dispel prejudices and foster feeling of mutual respect and appreciation. It also creates opportunities to learn new ways of understanding and doing things which, in turn, can lead to greater innovation."
“Diversity breeds creativity,” notes Karen Gingras, executive director of REDI Enterprise Society. “It brings new life to the community. Life would be dull without diversity.”
Diversity helps employers to look at things differently and come up with new solutions to problems. It also provides employers with insight into different communities and cultures. With this new understanding, employers can make changes to how they do business to attract a more diverse clientele: people do business where they feel welcomed.
For clients and employees to feel comfortable in a business, the workplace must not only be diverse but also inclusive. For this to happen, guidelines must be put in place to ensure that all employees are treated with respect and dignity. Inclusion is about attitude. A workplace that fails to foster an inclusive attitude will not be able to retain its diverse employees and will quickly lose the support within the community.
Right now, it is an employers’ marketplace in Medicine Hat and elsewhere. With high unemployment rates,
anada’s population is growing more and more diverse. There are people of all ages and abilities, cultures and religions. It is important that Canada’s workplaces reflect this diversity
Diversity in the local workplace: Uneven progress
Gerry McNeil, a client at CORE Association, has worked at Safeway for 10 years.
employers have a large pool of applicants from which to choose. This makes it especially difficult for members of groups for whom it has traditionally been more challenging to find employment.
The Employment Equity Act was created in 1986 to ensure that no one in Canada was denied employment except on the basis of their ability to do a job. Since then, the country’s workforce has been growing slowly but steadily more diverse. This is true of Medicine Hat. However, like many communities in the country, Medicine Hat still has a ways to go towards creating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce.
“We are having success, and we are having advancements," explains Anita Neefs, executive director of Saamis Aboriginal Employment and Training Association. "We are seeing people getting jobs. However, whether they are people with disabilities, new immigrants or Aboriginal people, there are still very under-represented people in our labour force. These people can do the job, and they need the opportunity to be able to prove that they can do that job, but in order to be able to do that we need employers to implement some mandates.”
In the country as a whole, Aboriginal unemployment and underemployment remains a problem. In Alberta, in 2015,
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