Things appear to be going swimming on at least one northern B.C. pipeline project.
A skills training program for aboriginals seeking employment on the Pacific Trail Pipelines (PTP) has exceeded many of its targets, administrators said Friday, including training more than 600 First Nations clients for construction and operations employment in the natural gas sector.
"We're really starting to see the benefits of this program in reducing the barriers to employment for Aboriginal people," said PTP Aboriginal Skills Employment Partnership (PTP ASEP) executive director Diane Collins in a statement.
"As we near the end of the 2011 - 2012 fiscal year, we're proud to report we've helped place nearly 400 First Nations workers into trades-related employment."
Once constructed, the PTP will transport natural gas nearly 500 kilometre from Summit Lake to Kitimat where it would be shipped to Asia.
The $1.2-billion project will cross the traditional territories of 15 aboriginal communities and will create as many as 2,000 jobs during two to three years of construction.
A 1,500 jobs will be created by construction of a liquified natural gas terminal at Kitimat and lead to more than 100 permanent jobs once operational.
First Nations are generally opposed to pipelines meant to transport crude from the Alberta oilsands but are in support of the natural gas pipeline project.
