https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
A worker at Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank Mine in Nunavut says a training program designed to train Nunavummiut allows southern contractors to rise, while Inuit wait for training. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. operates the Meadowbank open-pit gold mine, north of Baker Lake and the Meliadine mine near Rankin Inlet.
CBC has agreed not to name the worker, who said he fears reprisal from the company. The man has been an employee with the company for over a decade, and said he has never been suspended.
The employee, who is not Inuit, said he is “fed up” with the treatment of his Inuit colleagues. The man said Inuit on his crew are overlooked for higher-paying positions and become frustrated when they are turned down for the training they need to advance.
The company launched the Mine Career Path training program in 2012 to hire for positions, such as haul truck driving, from the local Inuit population. The program, according to the company’s website, supports the “upward career progression” of Inuit employees.
Mine Career Path candidates are required to pass tests, put in many hours, and complete training to advance to better paid and highly skilled jobs. But the worker said the company is able to fill some positions with contractors from the south, who take shorter, months-long training programs in Val d’Or, Quebec, while Inuit work through a program where advancement is at the discretion of Agnico Eagle.
For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/agnico-eagle-training-complaint-1.5137326