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Efforts must be made to attract new industries and build skills-training pathways in rural communities

Rebecca Merlenbach and Sarah Patterson-Mills

This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.

Workforce development, a relatively recent term and concept that has developed over the past two decades, describes a wide range of activities and public policies related to learning and skill building for entry into the world of work. A 2019 Federal Reserve National Brief, Investing in America’s Workforce, outlined several rural workforce development priorities based on a series of dialogues between the Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis Federal Reserve and community leaders, policy-makers and higher-education institutions. These areas were:

• Education and technology training opportunities to expand skill development
• Economic diversification
• Improving the quality of jobs available
• Enhanced infrastructure that allows for access to technology
• Partnerships across non-for-profit, public and private sectors to facilitate economic regional growth (Bozarth & Strifler, 2019, p. 2)

Historically, rural employment opportunities have consisted largely of blue-collar and unskilled jobs including agriculture and reliance on natural resources. As discussed in the list above, in order for workforce development in rural areas to be successful, public policy efforts must widen the scope in order to attract new industries and grow rural populations, which in turn strengthens the economy.

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In the US and Canada, 70 years ago, over 70% of workers lived in remote areas while today the inverse is true, with 66% of workers living in urban areas (Leeson, 2018). In the US, rural counties have experienced a 3% population growth rate since 2000, which can be attributed to gains in rural communities on the edges of metropolitan areas, while more remote counties continued to lose population. In Canada today, 81.4% of the population lives in urban and suburban areas (Plecher, 2019). Thus, in the US and Canada, the lack of available workers adversely affects rural economies, which stymies population growth, eroding stability in these areas.

To ensure American and Canadian career practitioners are able to effectively serve those in rural communities, access issues may need to be considered and resolved. Internet and other technological tools to reach our clients may be less available, for instance. Cost for counselling services may be an additional consideration and practitioners may consider sliding or reduced fee scales to make services affordable for those who are earning less per capita. In addition to providing affordable and accessible sessions to rural clients, access to more training programs is essential. Students and employees who are looking for a sustainable future may need different training programs such as those in agriculture or other non-traditional post-secondary pathways. Career counsellors are encouraged to advocate for social justice and advocate for these types of accessibility.

Once barriers are overcome, there are many strengths that a rural workforce provides for the entire economy of a country such as food supply for export and domestic consumption. There appears to be a rural population shift in Canada and the US with increased immigrant populations settling in them (Ajilore & Willingham, 2019). As career practitioners and social justice advocates, we can help our clients recognize and develop their own social capital through a review of interests, abilities and values they hold. Government funding can go a long way to growing workforce opportunities in rural areas. Land is cheaper and larger distribution centres and manufacturing may be more profitable in these areas. In addition, natural resources and community social capitol bolster the threads in these communities, and with government subsidies, institutions of higher education can also contribute to the growth of these communities.

As new industries and technologies are introduced, higher-education institutions can support these efforts by adding programs that provide skills training to rural employees. Since 2017, partnerships between governing bodies and community colleges in the United States have increased focus on legislation to provide more equitable access to education for adult learners, especially in states largely composed of rural populations. These actions are removing barriers and providing funding to support short-term programs that meet the local industry needs (NCLS, 2018). Short-term skills-training programs offered by community colleges and job-training centres have wrap-around benefits for the economy and must be better equipped to “nimbly” respond to current rural workforce demands (Dews, 2013). These programs benefit the employee by increasing their skills and abilities, making them more valuable, and thus – hopefully –increasing their wages. Employers benefit from partnerships with these programs, as they can provide a pipeline to human capital for companies that are experiencing worker shortage.

Rural areas across the US and Canada are home to different cultures, people, businesses and infrastructure, and are far from geographically or economically homogenous. Rural areas are less densely populated and less connected to major centres of employment and thus face unique challenges affecting job growth and advanced work skills training. It is our responsibility to the profession to ensure we provide services that are accessible to all, are inclusive and social-justice minded, and honour the diversity within and between communities.

Sarah Patterson-Mills, PhD, LPC is the Program Chair for School Counseling at Lindenwood University for the Illinois and Missouri Campuses. She has worked in developing college career centers and directing them over five years.

Robyn Gunn is pursuing a Master’s of Arts at Lindenwood University and has a BA in Psychology (cum laude) with concentration in special education. In her final year of Master’s in Counseling Program-School Counseling at Lindenwood University, she also works as a Graduate Assistant in the Counseling Department.

References

Ajilore, O. & Willingham, Z. (2019, October 21) Adversity and assets: identifying rural opportunities. Center for American Progress. americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/10/21/476097/adversity-assets-identifying-rural-opportunities/

Bozarth, A. & Strifler, W. M. (2019). Strengthening workforce development in rural areas. The 2019 Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Retrieved from: investinwork.org/-/media/Files/reports/strengthening-workforce-development-rural-areas.pdf

Dews. F. (2013). Closing the Skills Gap through Workforce Development Policy. BROOKINGS.

Leeson, G. W. (2018). The growth, ageing and urbanisation of our world. Journal of Population Ageing, 11(2), 107-115. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12062-018-9225-7

National Career Development Association (2015).  Code of Ethics.  ncda.org/aws/NCDA/asset_manager/get_file/3395

National Conference of State Legislatures (2018). Higher education legislation in 2017. ncsl.org/research/education/higher-education-legislation-in-2017.aspx

Opinko, D. (2019, October 3). Canada’s population grows by more than 500,000 in one year. Lethbridge News. lethbridgenewsnow.com/2019/10/03/canadas-population-grows-by-more-than-500000-in-one-year/

Plecher, H.(2019, December 11). Urbanization in Canada 2018. Retrieved on 2/25/2019 from: statista.com/statistics/271208/urbanization-in-canada/

Canada’s farming sector needs an image shift to halt the exodus of young people

 Abdul-Rahim Abdulai

What led you into farming? This question anchored my research to understand what motivates people to farm in Newfoundland (Abdulai, 2018). “Agriculture was always in the blood, a family tradition many folks embraced,” said one farmer while lamenting the demise of farming in Newfoundland. “My parents owned a garden centre when I was a child, and I grew up in that sort of business,” said another vegetable farmer. For many, entering farming was all about “growing up to farm the family land.”

The experiences from Newfoundland are not unique; agriculture historically benefitted from a consistent supply of labour from within “family farm” units. In 2011, family farms constituted over 92% of Canada’s farms (Statistics Canada, 2013). These farms are not managed by a commune, co-operative or a non-family corporation, and are more likely to be passed from generation to generation (Knezevic, Bronson & Clément, 2020). The farm family always was a “factory” ready to produce the next generation of agriculture enthusiasts – people who will end up in farming or agriculture-related careers (Cummins, 2009). However, my research in Newfoundland points to a decline in this vital survival trait of agriculture.

Farm population exodus: The tale of two farmers

I found that our social environment motivates and shapes individual decisions, including our career paths (Dodd, 2011; Hamill, 2012). Early life experiences and socialization influence our personal decisions and choices, ultimately guiding our professional trajectories. Notably, personal ties, advice (from parents and friends) and the beliefs one is exposed to about different professions influence the career decisions of young people. Agriculture is no exception to this. My research, however, revealed some nuances in how the family can affect career pathways in farm families:

Farmer 1: “I am a farmer. I discourage my children [from farming]. I have two kids; my daughter is a physiotherapist, and my son works in a consultant company. I did everything to discourage them from this way of life [on the farm]. I can’t imagine what I would have done, why I would have encouraged them.”

Farmer 2: “So, I was a firm believer that when I had kids, and I had a farm, they will stay. Once they became old enough, everybody pulled away, everybody moved … But you know, they didn’t want – once they graduated with some college or whatever – they didn’t come back to the farm or something like that.”

These quotes describe tales of two farm families: One farmer who had a passion for keeping the farm in the family, and another who encouraged his children to pursue careers outside agriculture. Yet, the outcomes of both tales were the same: the departure of the young from the farm. For both families,  their inability to retain their children in the sector was down to perceptions of farming being hard work, stressful and less profitable.

The exodus of young people partly defines the declining farming population in Newfoundland and Canada and contributes to persistent labour challenges in the industry. According to Statistics Canada, Newfoundland’s and Canada’s farmer populations are aging. Concurrently, the number of farmers who are under 35 years old in Canada has declined by over 70% since 1991 (Qualman, Akram-Lodhi, Desmarais & Srinivasan, 2018). Likewise, the number of farm operators declined by about 35% between 2001 and 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017). What drives the exodus may vary, but the image of farming as a challenging, unprofitable profession discourages even those who grew up around agriculture. The industry suffers from an image issue, which drives young people away.

Read more

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Re-discovering agriculture to motivate the younger generation

While farming is hard work, there is more to the agriculture industry than what is known to most youth.

Technological changes are reshaping farm work and career opportunities. Last year, RBC released the Farmer 4.0 report (RBC, 2019), which described the farmers of tomorrow as innovative, highly skilled, data-driven and diverse. These transformations are very much on the way, and the farm community can help bolster the talent pipeline by shifting the image of the industry to be more forward-looking. Sharing the diverse opportunities available in farming can counter misconceptions that farming is a dated or old profession. This may attract new people to the agricultural industry while also encouraging young people to consider the future of the farm.

Likewise, school and agricultural institutions must swiftly develop and/or alter programs to reflect new skill demands. Courses that incorporate new farming skills and needs would allow youth to understand the diverse opportunities the sector can offer and how they can shape the future of agriculture.

Finally, youth, especially those from agricultural households, could play a pivotal role. Since they have opportunities to experience and experiment in the sector, leveraging the power of the digital world to explore new experiences of farming could help them learn skills that they are excited to bring to the industry. More internal youth engagement will attract outsiders to help overcome current labour and skill challenges in Canadian agriculture.

Abdul-Rahim Abdulai is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Guelph, and affiliated with the Arrell Food Institute. Abdulai’s interest is in the future of agriculture, through workforce development and digital technological advancements. His research asks questions on the motivational dimensions of attracting and retaining people in agricultural workforce, as well as how to respond to changing skill requirements triggered by emerging digital agricultural technologies.

References

 Abdulai, A. (2018). Motivating the future farmers? Understanding farmer attraction and retention policy interventions in Newfoundland and Labrador’s agriculture. (Master’s thesis, Memorial University). research.library.mun.ca/13375/

Cummins, H. (2009). Rural children’s perceptions of life on the land in Southwestern Ontario. The Canadian Geographer, 53(1), 63–83.

Dodd, J. (2011). Sustaining agriculture in NSW high schools-an assessment of the use of examples from alternative agriculture and investigation into the role of high school agriculture in meeting the future needs of the industry. Charles Sturt University. permaculturenews.org/files/JDoddDissertation.pdf

Hamill, W. G. (2012). The factors that contribute to young people’s attraction to, and retention in agricultural careers. (Master’s thesis, RMIT University). researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160392

Knezevic, I. Bronson, K. and Clément, C. (2020). What is (not) a family farm? fledgeresearch.ca/resources-results/food-growing-and-harvesting/what-is-not-a-family-farm/

Qualman, D., Akram-Lodhi, A. H., Desmarais, A. A., & Srinivasan, S. (2018). Forever young? The crisis of generational renewal on Canada’s farms. Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, 5(3), 100-127.

RBC (2019). Farmer 4.0. How the coming skills revolution can transform agriculture rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/other-reports/Farmer4_aug2019.pdf

Statistics Canada (2013). Chapter 1. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/95-640-x/2011001/p1/p1-01-eng.htm#I

Statistics Canada (2013). Number of families on unincorporated farms, classified by family type, major source of operator income and income classes in the year prior to the census. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3210019401

Statistics Canada. (2017). Total number of farms and farm operators. https://doi.org/10.25318/3210044001-eng

In the ‘champagne region’ of marijuana cultivation, legal changes present opportunity for career professionals to connect with resilient but reticent jobseekers

Phil Sarsons

Rural and remote areas are anything but barren. They have a lot to offer, and they also face unique challenges. Though the natural beauty is often abundant, formal year-round employment is generally not. Some locations even retain a sense of being frontier-like, where the pace of life and the pressures of urbanization collide.

The Kootenay region, which comprises a significant portion of the Interior of British Columbia, certainly fits this mold. The geography is very diverse, and so are its peoples and their histories. This region is both rugged and quaint, inviting and rustic, yet not without affluence. It boasts about 120,000 residents (Work BC, n.d.), many of whom have developed resilience, resourcefulness and humility in an area that is off the beaten path and facing economic challenges.

In the West Kootenay, both clients’ resilience and the need for career practitioners to meet local needs were highlighted as the region started adapting to one of its latest challenges: cannabis legalization.

The times, they still are a changin’

The West Kootenay is home to many historically “exiled” cultures: the interned Japanese, Vietnam War draft dodgers and the Russian Doukhobors, as well as people seeking ways of life outside of the Canadian norm. With the comparatively recent addition of cannabis growers (residents refer to West Kootenay as the “champagne region” of Canadian cannabis) the regional culture continues to carry a non-conformist sentiment. As a result, delivering government-sponsored services in this remote and rural region has had its challenges.

This tension became very apparent as the new cannabis regulations prompted reactions ranging from dejection to fear to fierce optimism. Amid such transitions, populations that may have otherwise been reticent to engage with government-sponsored services found their way into my office.

I experienced an uptick of clients who had been cultivating marijuana prior to legalization disclosing their concerns about how legalization would affect their futures. Would their work survive this transition? Could their farms afford to align with the incoming standards and building codes required by regulation? Many clients expressed concerns that having cultivated cannabis would by default leave them behind on accessing EI-funded employment services, because they had not paid into it previously. While clients’ resilience and self-sufficiency had been serving them rather well prior to legalization, regulations have made various long-standing culture gaps very pronounced. In inadvertently being barred from accessing EI supports, long-time cannabis growers are emblematic of an isolation often experienced in this region – of being in a world they may otherwise feel too vulnerable to participate in, and of the feeling that capitulation into the status quo is not necessarily a feasible or reasonable thing to do.

Client vulnerabilities great and small

Giving assurance of their privacy (as outlined in FOIPPA, BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) was key in gaining their alliance. All the classic tools for career counselling then naturally came to the fore, beginning with conversations around values, and then skills and interests. The area does not lack for passionately minded individuals, and so an appeal to that energy helped establish trust. By recognizing the value of clients’ self-esteem, resilience and courage, we made our services more welcoming to them, giving clients the opportunity to assert their creativity within a dynamically changing landscape. Even the primary task of developing a resume and naming their skills helped clients understand how assertive and directed an individual can be while job searching.

It was not surprising that many of these clients expressed a desire for autonomy in their work. Developing avenues of self-employment that leveraged their abundance of creative energy and knowledge of various aspects of horticulture seemed key to their successes and survival.

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Conversations also revolved around how to best refocus their abilities toward different avenues of work – whether this would be in agriculture or if they would need to embark on an entirely new career path, or relocate to a larger urban centre. Though the intent of legalization has a welcoming feel around it, much of the net effect has been a kind of displacement. Many people have been unable to compete with the “big money” that has entered the space. Given that the employment landscape was comparably bleak to begin with, and because legalization has thus far interrupted an otherwise-thriving cannabis agricultural industry, WorkBC Services has been compelled to engage pro-actively to help improve outcomes of these jobseekers in the community by diversifying services.

“By recognizing the value of clients’ self-esteem, resilience and courage, we made our services more welcoming to them, giving clients the opportunity to assert their creativity within a dynamically changing landscape.”

Addressing the cultural barrier in remote settings

Our organization developed Liaison roles to further catalyze our work in the region to address situational and systemic barriers, and I saw an opportunity to give agency to these populations. The situation demanded a robust and creative response, and shifting toward liaison work was exactly what was needed. Liaisons are granted time to research their chosen area of specialty and leverage the banner of employment services to address systemic barriers. “Multi-Barrier Liaison – Rural Focus” was added to my title of Employment Counsellor, which helped me engage more deeply with residents in need to determine what employment services can do for them in the long term.

Career practitioners should not only embrace the frontier-like feeling of rural areas, but recognize the immense opportunity presented in becoming an advocate for remote and rural populations. In this instance, the West Kootenay holds an immense invitation to tune in to the unique value propositions of the clientele, and to support an industry of global significance. The West Kootenay never presents a dull moment in this regard, and in the years to come, the local cannabis industry may well present itself as responsive and as resilient as ever.

Phil Sarsons is an Employment Counsellor at the Nelson WorkBC office, Kootenay Career Development Society. He holds a Liaison position for rural and remote clients, with a focus on agriculture, and he has a BFA in acting, having retired from the professional theatre many years ago.

References

Work BC. (n.d.). Kootenay. workbc.ca/Labour-Market-Information/Regional-Profiles/Kootenay

Travel and business restrictions related to the pandemic have hit some rural jobseekers and industries hard, but there is hope on the horizon

Lindsay Purchase

When Selkirk College Instructor Adela Tesarek Kincaid began working with BC communities to help them develop economic resilience plans last year, she had no way of knowing how urgently they would be needed some months later. Initially intended to help keep economies moving after natural disasters, the focus has now shifted to pandemic preparedness.

“I think we’ll be that much better prepared now and going into the future. So I think that’s definitely a strength and a good thing that came out of this,” says Tesarek Kincaid, who is also a Faculty Researcher at the College, located in the West Kootenay region of BC. Local communities drove the creation of the resilience plans with the support of staff and students from Selkirk and Simon Fraser University, alongside Community Futures Central Kootenay.

Unfortunately, there is no single blueprint for dealing with an unprecedented global pandemic, and Canada’s rural communities – each with their own strengths and challenges, unique demographic makeups and industries – will have to chart a path forward while the ground is still shifting beneath them. Here’s how rural areas and industries are being affected by COVID-19 across Canada, and what they believe will help them get through it.

At-risk industries

The lessons of previous economic recessions suggest that communities will experience the crisis differently, depending on how remote they are, their level of community capacity and their economic mix (Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, 2020). However, it is expected that certain industries will be hit harder.

Tourism is one such industry. In 2016, one in 10 Canadian workers was employed in tourism, with nearly 20% of the sector located in rural areas (Tourism HR Canada, n.d.).

Philip Mondor, President and CEO, Tourism HR Canada, says that rural areas relying heavily on tourism may face a longer recovery period. “These were some of the first areas to be shuttered and they’re going to be some of the last to open and there’s lots of very sensible reasons for that,” he says. Communities – especially those with large proportions of vulnerable populations – may not have the resources to deal with a sizeable outbreak. Even as physical distancing and travel restrictions are loosened, rural communities may continue to be more cautious.

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This will also affect workers whose jobs are part of the broader tourism economy, Mondor says, such as a gas station attendant employed near a tourist hotspot. “People take for granted that some of the services they have are inherently there whether tourism is around or not. And indeed it’s not true.”

These challenges have started to bear out in the Yukon, which normally has a robust tourism sector but closed its borders to all non-essential travel in April.

“People in the service industry and the tourism industry are just being hit incredibly hard. I think that’s a really big challenge,” says Lana Selbee, Executive Director of Yukonstruct, a Whitehorse non-profit and hub that supports local makers and entrepreneurs.

The territory has plans to lift lift travel restrictions between Yukon and BC on July 1, but in the meantime, it’s looking to other solutions. Selbee says officials and the provincial tourism association are encouraging Yukoners to get out and explore – to be tourists in their own territory to support local businesses.

Across the country in New Brunswick, when the high tourism season would normally be getting under way, closed borders are expected to hurt students and seasonal workers. However, the effects of the pandemic have been more immediate in other sectors, says Charles LeBlanc, Manager, South East Region, Working NB.

The agriculture and fisheries sectors are experiencing a shortage of at least 1,200 workers, positions that would normally be filled by temporary foreign workers, Le Blanc says. Employers have raised wages in a bid to attract more domestic workers, while Working NB has created a new virtual job-matching platform to help boost recruitment.

In a province where 40% of agricultural workers are migrants, Ontario’s farmers are in a similar position (Statistics Canada a, 2020).

“I’m really worried about the farmers, really, really worried about them,” says Madelaine Currelly, CEO of the Community Training and Development Centre, which has locations in Peterborough and Cobourg, ON. “Some of them have been able to bring in international labour, which is what a lot of them have to do in order to survive, but the numbers are just not there where they used to be.”

Currelly is also concerned about the restaurants and shops of Cobourg’s downtown strip. She has spoken to employers who have had to lay off staff, while others have applied for federal funding to help them stay afloat. “It’s really important that the downtown is alive and well and thriving in order for the inhabitants to even have a place to go,” she says.

Students and jobseekers

Despite labour shortages in some areas, Canada’s unemployment rate hit 13.7% in May (Statistics Canada b, 2020). This has presented a major challenge for post-secondary students relying on summer employment to pay tuition and meet program requirements. Over one-third of students have reported having a work placement cancelled or delayed, while 48% of students say they lost a job or were temporarily laid off. (Learn more about the impact of the pandemic on students in this issue’s infographic, “COVID-19 and Canada’s post-secondary students“)

While Tesarek Kincaid has continued to employ research assistants, other students have faced cancelled placements or been unable to find work. “What students have shared with me is that they’re having a hard time amidst all the uncertainty knowing where they’re going to be able to have or gain [work] opportunities,” she says. Some students – not so keen on online learning – aren’t sure whether they’ll register for the next term.

Working NB has been hearing from many students who are concerned that their inability to find work will disqualify them from financial supports for the upcoming year. LeBlanc says WorkingNB’s employment counsellors are being “bombarded” by questions that they don’t have the answers to yet; the federal government will have to provide guidance around the number of insurable hours required to qualify for different programs. “When you’re looking at the recovery of the pandemic, short-term if they have no jobs, well, long-term it means they’re not pursuing education or training, because they don’t have the money to pay for those programs,” he says.

While funding opportunities have emerged for students in response to the pandemic – most notably, the federal Canada Emergency Student Benefit –  it’s not yet clear how many students are falling through the cracks.

The long road ahead

The big question facing rural Canada right now is, what does recovery look like? In a recent report, the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (2020) emphasized the importance of “adopting place-based approaches” to support recovery and resilience. In other words, what is needed to move forward could look different for every community.

Mondor, of Tourism HR Canada, agrees that a community lens will inform next steps. “The strategy to recover employment is not going to be sectoral, per se, it’s going to be more practically, in a very organic way, a community-led concern,” he says.

Skills and infrastructure development, including improved broadband access in rural areas, also have a role to play. Leblanc says equipping people with digital skills has become a critical need. “The unusual and unprecedented nature of the crisis means that it is not only the more educated but also the ones who are in jobs and occupations more amenable to remote work who fare better,” he says. LeBlanc would like to see the government offer digital skills training courses as well as subsidize internet access and computer costs for those who cannot afford the technology.

While the pandemic has undoubtedly brought many challenges to the forefront, opportunities have arisen as well. In the Yukon, with supply chains disrupted and industries hit hard, the focus has shifted to how to better support local businesses and entrepreneurs. “I think for us, it’s really just asking ourselves the question of how do we show up in a different way for our members and the broader community?” Selbee says.

This kind of reflection is emblematic of the local entrepreneurial spirit that gives Selbee hope for recovery. “Crisis often creates a lot more innovation,” she adds.

The road to recovery will be long and hard, with some communities facing more obstacles than others. However, it also evident that across rural Canada, determination and creativity are alive and well. These resources will help communities rebuild – and be prepared to withstand whatever disruptors the future will hold.

Lindsay Purchase is CERIC’s Lead, Content, Learning & Development. She is the Editor of CERIC’s tri-annual magazine, Careering, and the CareerWise website, along with the CareerWise Weekly newsletter. She is always happy to chat about article ideas: lindsay@ceric.ca.

References

Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (2020). Supporting rural economic recovery & resilience after COVID-19. Retrieved from http://crrf.ca/covid19/

Statistics Canada, a. (2020). The distribution of temporary foreign workers across industries in Canada. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00028-eng.htm

Statistics Canada, b. (2020). Labour Force Survey, May 2020. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200605/dq200605a-eng.htm?HPA=1

Tourism HR Canada. (n.d.). Tourism Facts. Retrieved from http://tourismhr.ca/labour-market-information/tourism-facts/