SAMBAA K'E/TROUT LAKE - Trout Lake residents honked their horns and cheered as a parade of heavy equipment including skid steers, front-end loaders, gravel trucks, water trucks, D5s and D6s paraded to the arbour on June 19.

The gathering along the community's main street celebrated the accomplishments of 10 women who graduated from the Introduction to Heavy Equipment Operation Course.

Ten Trout Lake women celebrate their graduation from the Introduction to Heavy Equipment Operation Course. Wearing matching pink hard hats the graduates include from left, front row: graduates Lyla Pierre, Joyce Jumbo, Sharon Kotchea, Norma Jumbo, Mavis Wasp-Colin, Cody Punch, along with Annemieke Mulders, with the Status of Women Council of the NWT, graduate Rebecca Murdoch, and Lorraine Phaneuf, the executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT; back row: graduates Marilyn Lomen, Carielyn Jumbo and Brenda Jumbo. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Each piece of equipment was driven by one of the 10 women from Trout Lake who successfully finished the course offered in the community from June 8 to 19. This is the first time in the territory the course has been offered to a women-only group.

The decision to open the course to just women was made by the Status of Women Council of the NWT which funded the course as part of its Northern Women in Mining, Oil and Gas Project.

The project is designed to remove barriers to women entering non-traditional trades, said Annemieke Mulders, the project's co-ordinator.

This is the first time the council has offered a course outside of Yellowknife and the 100 per cent graduation rate was impressive, Mulders said.

When they started only one of the 10 had any previous experience with heavy equipment.

Sitting in a group at their graduation ceremony the women agreed they were nervous at the beginning.

"(I was) very intimidated by the size of the equipment," said Mavis Wasp-Colin.

After 11 days and approximately 100 hours of work each, that has changed. Confident is how the women feel now.

"We know we can do it," said Wasp-Colin who said she felt empowered. Lyla Pierre said she decided to take the course so she would know how to use the equipment if the community needed work done.

"Then we can get hired for jobs," Pierre said.

Her favourite pieces of equipment are now the D5 and D6 tracked CATs and the front-end loader. Pierre said she likes them because they're high off the ground and because of "the adrenaline of driving them."

Joyce Jumbo prefers the skid steer because it's smaller and easier to operate. The course was a great opportunity, she said.

"It makes me feel proud too because I didn't know how to drive any of them," Jumbo said.

The women also agreed that holding the course in Trout Lake allowed them to succeed. It meant everyone could go home to their families at night, said Brenda Jumbo.

The course, which is offered by the School of Community Government, was delivered by the Sambaa K'e Development Corporation. Malcolm MacPhail, a community works advisor with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, and Anthony Ekenale, the public works foreman for Trout Lake instructed the course.

Before the course started Ekenale said he was confident the women would do well.

On job sites women tend to do better because they are less familiar with the equipment and that makes them cautious. This means they take the time to do circle checks and preventative maintenance on the equipment, Ekenale said.

"They catch on real quickly," he said.

The course started with a strong introduction to safety and basic operation. Afterwards the women gained experience on a few projects around the community. They resurfaced an access road, delivered water with the water truck, improved a pad for a future building and cleaned up the community's landfill.

The women did an excellent job and most of them are now comfortable with using all of the pieces of equipment, MacPhail said.

"There was a lot of enthusiasm," he said.

Hosting the course was a positive experience for the community, said Rick Phaneuf, the general manager of the Sambaa K'e Development Corporation.

Trout Lake is a very traditional community but some women have started to challenge their traditional roles. The course will "bust the dams wide open" and help people rethink gender roles, Phaneuf said.

"Having this new pool of labour to draw from will be great," Phaneuf said.