Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Cambridge Bay (Apr 22/02) - A need to get the Kitikmeot ready to take advantage of resource development on the horizon created the need for Kitikmeot Employment and Training Partners.

According to a presentation prepared for the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Cambridge Bay earlier this month and obtained by News/North, the organization was created in 1998 from dissatisfaction over training in the Kitikmeot.

"It was felt that regional-based training was the best way to go to achieve desired training results," says the presentation, which was written by the organization's manager Sean Peterson.

The push for the organization came from a need to get a local workforce ready "now versus later."

The region's leadership, including Charlie Lyall, current president of the Kitikmeot Corporation; Charlie Evalik, president of Kitikmeot Inuit Association; and Cambridge Bay Mayor Keith Peterson, were instrumental in creating the organization, said Peterson, a private consultant who joined on Dec. 1, 1999.

Since then, 60 of 66 residents from the five Kitikmeot communities have completed training programs.

So far 18 residents from Cambridge Bay, 14 from Taloyoak, 12 from Gjoa Haven, nine from Kugluktuk and seven from Kugaaruk have completed KETP courses.

Of the 60 graduates, 33 passed courses in heavy-equipment operation. Another 16 are now qualified diamond-drilling assistants, nine are trained camp cook helpers, one a security officer and one a passed a diamond valuator course.

The organization is looking to negotiate a travel-subsidy agreement with the Nunavut government to get Kitikmeot Inuit from the eastern communities to "point-of-hire" locations.

The organization also wants to develop life skills training and seek out more funding, according to the presentation.