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Ottawa allocates $10 million to train first nations workers in sector
Funding will continue for a popular training program that aims to employ British Columbian aboriginals in the province’s booming mining and mineral exploration sectors, an executive with the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association confirmed Wednesday.
“Everything is going very well,” said Laurie Sterritt on news the federal government has agreed to put another $10 million into the B.C. AMTA program over the next three years. The program, which was launched in 2010 with a $4.4-million budget, was in jeopardy of closing its doors after a request to federal agencies for more money to continue the work went unanswered.
In June, staff members at the program’s Kamloops office were laid off while negotiations for a funding extension continued behind the scenes. Sterritt said office workers have since returned to their posts, with more people expected to be hired as the program expands across the province.
The program is already underway in the Thompson-Okanagan and northwest regions, but will now add the Kootenay and Cariboo to its operations.
The training program was originally created through a partnership of industry, government, educators and first nations to help the mining sector meet its workforce needs in the face of a looming labour shortage. Program candidates are given the training they need to get the jobs they want within the resource industry.
Sterritt said the program has helped more than 330 aboriginal men and women find full-time work in jobs ranging from human resources management to heavy-equipment operations.
The program aims to find sustainable work for another 650 people — a hiring target Sterritt said she’s confident can be achieved.
“We’ve already got a good start on hires from our currant candidate pool, and I think the demand [for skilled workers] will outstrip supply quite easily,” she said.
In its first two years of operations, Sterritt said about 63 per cent of candidates employed through the program were previously without work.
British Columbia’s young and growing aboriginal population has become a critical element in a worldwide workforce recruitment effort led by the resource industry.
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