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Cultural learning bridges gaps in the industry

· Breanne Massey ·
Cultural learning bridges gaps in the industry

Tony Harris, the employment advisor and industry liaison at SEM, enjoys working with students in the field. — Photo courtesy Tony Harris. A community

Tony Harris, the employment advisor and industry liaison at SEM, enjoys working with students in the field. — Photo courtesy Tony Harris.

A community in northern Quebec may be partnering with the award-winning mining and exploration program offered by a community college in northern B.C.

Northwest Community College (NWCC) offers a number of mining and exploration programs that teach practical skills on site. Typically, their courses include cultural inclusion activities with the aboriginal population from the surrounding area of Smithers, and it is this that has piqued an interest from Canadian neighbours to the east.

The area called Nunavik, which comprises the northern third of Quebec, is facing similar demands from the natural resource sector as that of northern B.C. As a result, the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) may work with NWCC’s School of Exploration and Mining (SEM) towards a unique program dedicated to culturally sensitive mining practices. A presentation by Tony Harris, the employment advisor and industry liaison at SEM, sparked Plan Nord's interest. Harris appeared at the Nunavik Mineral Exploration Conference in Kuujjuaq between February 14 and 17, 2012. At the event, Harris talked about the culturally sensitive and practical training techniques being used at NWCC.

Harris emphasized a program called the Workforce Exploration Skills Training (WEST) program. Student participants in the WEST program live in a remote camp with aboriginal elders from the area while gaining hands-on experience. It isn’t hard to see that the skills being offered there could transfer to Nunavik—a number of major projects and thousands of jobs are coming to the area, but a shortfall of skilled workers has been projected.

The KRG was impressed by the program and they’re optimistic about developing a similar program for the Inuit of Nunavik. The KRG expects to visit SEM this summer and if it goes well, there could be a collaboration between NWCC and KRG.

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