Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 30, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknifer Jen Pilon is the first woman to become certified in diamond polishing in Canada.

"It's mostly male-dominated," said Pilon of her field, but added that being the only woman actually worked to her advantage.

Jen Pilon, graduate of Aurora College's Diamond Cutting and Polishing program, examines a Northern diamond at Centre Square Mall on Monday, while promoting Polar Diamonds. - Brodie Thomas/ NNSL photo

Originally from Ontario, Pilon has been a resident of Yellowknife for the past eight years. She said she learned of the diamond polishing trade at a trade show in the city. She thought it was something interesting, as well as off-beat.

"I saw this and I wanted to do something totally different," she said.

After taking a four-month course at Aurora College, she then studied under a master cutter for two years as an apprentice.

Working for Arslanian Cutting Works Corporation for the past five years, Pilon travels throughout North America making presentations as a diamond polisher and educating people about Canadian diamonds in places such as Calgary, Edmonton, New York and Los Angeles.

"I do a lot of presentations for Polar Bear and Polar Ice (Diamonds)," she said. "A lot of people don't understand Canadian diamonds."

She said a lot of people may think of the 2006 film Blood Diamonds starring Leonardo DiCaprio, about the brutal diamond trade in Africa, when they think of the industry.

She said the diamonds she's promoting are tracked by the NWT Government and guaranteed to be from the North.

Promoting Polar Bear Diamonds in Yellowknife on Monday at Centre Square Mall, Pilon said the government tracks these diamonds through every phase of production, from mining to cutting and polishing, and certify them to let the buyer know they are from the NWT.

The Diamond Cutting and Polishing program at Aurora College is the only one of its kind in Canada and one of few in the world.

Instructor Courtenay Kenan said there are actually quite a few women taking the course.

"It varies, but I would say relatively 40 per cent," said Kenan. "Our current intake, we have five men and one woman."

He said the college has two intakes a year for the 22-week course.