.
Search
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad  Print this page

Military base may become school

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Sep 05/05) - A military base built at the end of the cold war could become a trades training facility.

Education Minister Ed Picco stunned top administrators for Nunavut Arctic College when he announced the government is close to an agreement to use the Forward Operation Location in Rankin Inlet for a trades school

The facility was built in 1992 to house CF-18 fighter jets. It includes five airplane bays, a mess facility and barracks to house 40 personnel. It's under the control of North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). There are also FOLs in Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Inuvik.

While Picco cautions that negotiations are still ongoing, he's confident the government will be able to do whatever is needed to secure the FOL site.

"The next step is for our Department of Education to put a proposal together and submit it to our federal friends," said Picco.

"For example, if there was to be an emergency, we would have to vacate the premises within 72 hours a things of that nature.

"But, at this point, it's pretty safe to say we have the necessary support at all levels to see our proposal become a reality."

Picco said should Nunavut acquire the site, there would be enough work space to allow instruction in the carpentry, electrical and plumbing trades, among other possibilities.

He said the government still has to decide how long it would want to control the facility, and look at the operation-and-maintenance costs involved.

"Once the proposal clears through National Defence and our friends with NORAD, we would hope to be in position to take over the building in the spring of 2006, say around May or June.

"We'd like to be in position to actually begin programming in October of 2006."

Picco said the movement on the FOL is exciting news for Nunavut.

"We'd be able to do so much with this space, including most of the construction trades and mining pre-trades. There may also be possibilities there to provide outpatient beds for the new regional health centre, as well as a firefighting program."