Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Kugluktuk (Jun 25/01) - During a Nunavut spring, five short days can make all the difference.
For Alex Buchan, the manager of community development in Kugluktuk, those five days are all that lie between delivering a relevant training program and the continued cycle of unemployment.
Specifically, by this Friday, June 29, Buchan needs to know if the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is going to contribute $600,000 to a program that would train 12 people in how to prepare and pour concrete.
Local parties have contributed $300,000 and the territorial government has agreed to kick in an equal amount. But DIAND officials have yet to respond to a request for $600,000 made back in May.
Buchan said this Friday's deadline stems from the sealift. If the necessary supplies are not ordered by the end of the week, the only option is to cancel the program.
The Diavik mine construction schedule only makes matters worse, as the need for workers trained in concrete work is immediate. Buchan said if participants complete the training program by the end of the summer, they'll be in a perfect position to secure work at Diavik.
"A good part of the rationale for doing this was to do some specific training for jobs required now at the Diavik site," said Buchan. "If we tried to do this next year, the rationale would be gone because that phase of mine development would be gone."
Buchan said this training opportunity should not be wasted. "Government should be trying to prepare the communities for a project they approved to go ahead," he said.
Community leaders have continued their lobbying efforts through letter-writing and were contacting Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell last week.
Jennifer Lilly, the communications manager for DIAND in Nunavut, said a response to a letter from Mayor Stanley Anablak is forthcoming.
When asked if the response would come in time for the materials to be ordered, Lilly said, "I have no way of knowing."
If DIAND comes through, the program will begin in July. A steady stream of job-seekers through the hamlet office assures Buchan the program will have more than enough students.
He also said it may be expanded to include eight additional spots for a cook's-helper training program. The success of the last batch of cooks and a need at Diavik for more kitchen staff prompted the mine to ask Buchan for more workers.
"Diavik is very pleased with the cooking portion of the project and they'd like to see that repeated. They still see a need for entry-level cooks," said Buchan.
"It makes sense because what we're trying to do is simulate camp and mine life where people are working as a team."
