Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Cambridge Bay (July 11/05) - Sixteen high school students from Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven and Kugluktuk attended a five-day welding and carpentry course in Yellowknife recently.

Sarah Jancke of Cambridge Bay learned to weld during a five-day welding and carpentry course in Yellowknife. After the first day, she was able to light the torch on her own.

The summer camp at the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre was primarily sponsored by Miramar Mining Corp. and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association.

The mining company hopes to open a gold mine in the Kitikmeot region in 2007 and sees the summer camp as a first step in securing a future workforce, said Heather Duggan, vice-president of human resources with Miramar.

"There is a national shortage of trades people and we will be challenged to find enough trades people in the North," she said.

"We will be depending on these young people in a couple of years."

Future trades people

Some of the sixteen students already have plans to continue in trades when they finish high school.

Charles Nivingalok of Kugluktuk made a pen holder in the welding workshop. He is planning to follow his cousin who took trades at Aurora College.

"More kids should try trades when they are done school," he said.

Hannah Anavilok, also from Kugluktuk, built a collapsible stool in the carpentry workshop.

"I like working with the power tools and hope to build a cabin outside Kugluktuk when I am older," she said.

The entire experience of being away from home was a benefit to all the students, said Jason Tologanak, the elder and youth co-ordinator with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, who travelled with the students to Yellowknife.

"A lot of times, mining companies are not visible in communities - trade schools aren't even visible in many communities," he said. "Students here see what work and determination is required and now they are asking, 'How much do welders make?'"

For many of the students, the trip to Yellowknife was their first.

"It was the first time eating out in restaurants for some and others were homesick because it was their first time away from home," he said. "But they are all asking to come back again next year."

More than 30 students applied for the 16 spaces in the summer camp this year, said Duggan. "This is the first annual and we are encouraging other companies to do similar programs."