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The $2-million mobile trades training unit owned by Aurora College makes its way up the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk where it will set up shop to offer a 15-week training program geared around home construction. - photo courtesy of Rory Voudrach

TUKTOYAKTUK - It looks like your standard big-rig trailer, but with the push of a few buttons the unassuming box-like structure transforms into a trades training classroom and an opportunity for remote communities in the Beaufort-Delta.

Aurora College purchased the $2-million state-of-the-art mobile training lab in 2007 to address the skilled-trades needs in the North, particularly in the Beaufort-Delta region.

Rory Voudrach, industrial and oil and gas training co-ordinator for Aurora College, said the versatility and mobility of the 950-square-foot shop helps to bring opportunity to communities without education opportunities.

"It will develop a larger labour pool," he said. "It provides them a foundation for entry-level employment and that's what the industry is looking for. Things are slow these days but there is an opportunity to provide some training to prepare people to support ... larger construction projects in the future."

Since obtaining the mobile lab through government and corporate support they have successfully completed two courses in Inuvik and trained more than 60 people in various entry-level trades.

Twelve students will be selected from Tuktoyaktuk to participate in a 15-week trades helper program starting in the middle of May. "It's an introductory course to carpentry, plumbing and electrical," he said.

"The idea is to train people to be a journeyman helper and be knowledgeable of construction operations so they'll be good help on any site as far as knowledge of tool and construction plans."

Riz Khimji, the community adult educator in Tuk, said the community is very excited about this opportunity, adding he has had numerous inquiries from people interested in taking the course. "It's going to provide people work in the community," he said. "They're going to build a house with this course so the people in the community are going to benefit from it as well."

Khimji said this course is the tip of the iceberg for those who have the chance to immerse themselves in the training.

"They'll have the criteria to get further educated," he said. "They'll get a sense of the job and it encourages people to get into it and it's completely hands on. You're learning the theory but you're getting the practical knowledge to build a house." Voudrach said with no facility like this in Tuk, or most communities in the region, the training lab provides community members exposure to the different trades.

"This facility allows us to go into a community and provide an industrial shop to give trades training of various types, whether it be welding, plumbing, mechanics," he said. "It's nice to offer training to prepare people for employment and hopefully spark some interest in a trade they may want to pursue in the future. Hopefully they are wanting to move on afterwards and we'll be doing our part to help them find employment and other job opportunities."

Khimji said interest in trades is there in places like Tuk, but there are obstacles that some find hard overcoming.

"Many people in the community don't feel comfortable leaving the community to get further education," he said. "With this, they have to show interest, come to the course and do it."

After the program concludes in Tuk in late August, the mobile lab will barge back to Inuvik for some maintenance and will then travel up the Dempster highway to Fort McPherson.

Voudrach said what courses will be offered hasn't been determined but they are currently working with the community to decide. Community collaboration is vital to successfully filling local need, said Voudrach.