Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (Oct 27/00) - Beaver Enterprises wants to hire Northerners but is having trouble finding people.

The company needs heavy equipment operators for the busy winter oil and gas season. "We believe that there has to be people living in the North with these skills," said Barb Rosko, the company's human resources manager Barb Rosko, adding she has 125 names in her database at Beaver Enterprises, but the majority of workers are unavailable.

"It's difficult for us to call somebody from Calgary. We don't want to do that, and by the time they get here it's two days of down-time on a machine," she said.

Shane Parrish, general manager of Acho Dene Koe Holdings Ltd., said the territorial workforce appears to be ill-prepared for an oil and gas boom.

"I think the writing on the wall here is that we've got shortages of people trained to work in the oil field," Parrish said. "I think it's a problem that we as industry would like to solve by working with government training organizations and start preparing the workforce."

Beaver Enterprises is planning to begin its own training program this week for several Fort Liard residents. Prospective heavy equipment operators will be learning on the job by helping to establish an industrial park in the community.

But trainees won't alleviate the demand for workers that's expected to grow substantially by mid to late November. There aren't enough qualified people even now during the slower period, said Parrish.

"We're a little concerned this winter because the industry is so heated there's going to be a huge demands on people who have heavy equipment operating skills," he said.

"We could have work at our feet, the equipment to do the work, but not have anybody on top of the gear to operate it.

But the work is sporadic and travel costs are not covered to get to and from Fort Liard. Applicants must have safety certification too. However, Rosko added that the lack of housing in the community is not an issue because it's camp work, so room and board is available.

The same shortage applies for cooks.

"That's my biggest disappointment. I do not have any Northern cooks," she said. "That surprises me."