A new camp cook's course for aboriginal students was opened jointly by College of New Caledonia and Northwest Community College on Tuesday and is already a hit.
"I asked them if they wanted help marketing it, but they told me it was already full right out of the gate," said CNC spokesman Randall Heidt.
The students were sourced by the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association and Summit Camps, a company working in the work-camp field, has signed on to provide the practical work experience.
"It is indeed a partnership," said NWCC's Dean of Trades and Natural Resources Development Brent Speidel. "As an institution we want to ensure we are ahead of the curve...in a culturally responsible way."
Applauding the three institutions joining up for this course was Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Shirley Bond.
"We know that the First Nations population is the youngest [of B.C.'s demographics] we have," she said. "Approximately 50 per cent of the First Nations population is below the age of 25. When you contemplate the workforce of the future, you have to consider First Nations."
Alongside Bond was Minister of Advanced Education Amrik Virk. Like Bond from Prince George, Virk is also a northerner, raised in Williams Lake where he worked in sawmilling and other forestry jobs.
"The balance of how the north was built was exploration and natural resources," Virk said. "These organizations are at the front of connecting learners with jobs."
Virk was pleased to see Summit Camps directly involved in the joint venture. He said the burgeoning natural resource labour sectors would be needing skilled workers in large numbers, and to meet that demand his department of government would have to become "more nimble and flexible" and the private sector in need of these workers would need "to put some skin in the [education] game."
B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association's chief executive officer Laurie Sterritt celebrated the capacity cohort and the joint venture by saying it was only the beginning for the three groups working together, and that was a lesson learned from the first four years of her organization striving to teach aboriginal people the courses that would be most directly effective for getting them a dependable job. In this case, the industry came to the association and told her directly that they needed staff for work camps, so the conversation began.
"As long as we can understand their needs, and the environment of that industry, we can fit our training to that," Sterritt said.
The four-week course will include camp cook education, camp safety, employment readiness skills and cultural components. It will be taught in the Smithers area and begins in March. For more information on future intake, contact the partner colleges directly.
