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Drilling toward success Darrell Greer Northern News Services Published Wednesday, April 25, 2012 The program included both classroom and practical components on an operating diamond-drilling rig located in the community.
The second intake of the program was the first to include students from outside of Arviat.
Two students from Rankin Inlet earned their certificates as well as Miranda Uqayuittaq of Baker Lake, who was the first female to graduate from the ADDT program.
Arviat community economic development officer Keith Collier said the ADDT advisory group will meet in the near future to secure funding and determine dates for the second year of the program, which will feature two more 10week courses tentatively scheduled to begin in September and January.
He said the demand for trained driller's helpers remains high throughout Nunavut, and ongoing support for the program has been confirmed by industry, government and its educational and Inuit-organization partners.
"We'll, probably, keep the same format as the one we used during the first year of the program," said Collier.
"Each course will be for 10 weeks, with, most likely, an intake of 10 students each.
"We're going to stick with the regional approach for now.
"We're going to aim for a ratio of six to eight students from Arviat in each intake and the rest from other Kivalliq communities."
The ADDT program has graduated 21 trained driller's helpers to date, with 18 of those being from Arviat.
Program partners include the Hamlet of Arviat, AgnicoEagle Mines Ltd., OrbitGarant Drilling, Boart Longyear Drilling, the Department of Education, Nunavut Arctic College, Economic Development and Transportation, Northern College of Ontario, Kivalliq Partners in Development, Kivalliq Inuit Association, Contaminates Remediation Training Organization of Canada and the Government of Canada's Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership program.
The Kivalliq Mine Training Society was also involved with ADDT before its doors closed this past month when funding expired.
The April 13 graduation ceremony at the Mark Kalluak Community Hall included a traditional performance by Arviat Qiggiqtiit, as well as thanks and congratulations from Arviat MLA Dan Shewchuk, Mayor Bob Leonard and Graeme Dargo of AgnicoEagle Mines.
David Gorman of Northern College presented the students with their graduation certificates.
Of the 10 graduates, three have already been invited to interview for positions with Boart Longyear and two have been offered jobs with Forage OrbitGarant Drilling.
Collier said the interaction between the Arviat students and those from other communities was exemplary during training.
He said there were absolutely no problems with the male students accepting the female trainee.
"Everybody got along really well and the instructors told us every student did well with their training.
"There were no barriers put up by the guys toward the female student that came to my attention."
Collier said the hamlet and its program partners are 100 per cent confident the vast majority of those who pass ADDT will become gainfully employed.
He said it looks very good for the three candidates interviewed by Boart Longyear to be hired, as long as they pass medical testing and do well in the interview process.
"Five of our recent 10 graduates have, pretty much, already secured employment.
"And, we're hoping the other five will also secure employment pretty quickly."
Collier said the program partners are happy with the results of the first year.
He said ADDT has already resulted in 21 people having a chance for careers that they didn't have before.
"We've heard from industry, government and all our funding agencies and they're all still on-board to keep funding this program for at least another year and, hopefully, beyond.
"We will be looking at a bit of a funding gap if nothing comes in to replace the Kivalliq Mine Training Society.
"But, we're confident other agencies will be able to pick up the slack because the funding requirement for each year going forward is only about one-third of the first year's.
"With all our capital costs being covered during the first year, we'll only have to cover consumables, instructor and curriculum costs and student costs."
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