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INUVIK
In preparation for a retiring workforce and a potentially booming construction season in the years to come, 10 men will receive a certificate in heavy equipment operation thanks to funding from the federal government and Northwind Industries of Inuvik.

The six-week heavy equipment operator's course is offered through Northwind and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Ten aboriginal students are taking the course to gain more skills. Front, from left, are Instructor Sam Klimek, Glen Gordon, Peter Lennie, Richard Binder, Jordan Bourque, Robert Joss. Back, from left, are Josh Campbell, Foster Arie, Brent Kaglik, Philip Inuktalik and Brian Kawikchuk. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

The six-week, hands-on course will train the students on 10 different pieces of heavy equipment at different sites around Inuvik, including the Road's End Golf Course and the future site of the Inuvik Child Development Centre. For Philip Inuktalik of Ulukhaktok, the course provides an opportunity to gain experience that will hopefully lead to future jobs.

"Maybe I'll work on the road from Tuktoyaktuk to here in a couple of years or if I'm lucky, I'll work at the mines," Inuktalik said. "It's just a good experience. I worked with the water truck and just got tired of it. This is a bit more exciting, working with the CAT and loader and hopefully the excavator."

This is the last of two years of funding through a grant given to the Building Inuvialuit Potential Society, which has a goal to provide skills and jobs to local Inuvialuit. The course is specific to aboriginal people and regional Gwich'in, Inuvialuit and Metis are students. The hope is that by training local people, companies in Inuvik will have a larger skilled workforce to hire from.

"The pool of workers are getting older. They were all trained when the oil companies moved up here, but now they're getting ready for retirement," said Aiden Dunne, corporate affairs director at Northwind Industries. "There is a need for heavy equipment operators. Northwind is continuously looking for operators, and some we hire from outside, but our preference is to hire more local."

Course instructor Sam Klimek has taught across the Northwest Territories in Fort Good Hope, Paulatuk and Tuktoyaktuk, and this is the second time he's come to Inuvik. He ensures the course is as hands-on as possible so the students feel comfortable working on all the different machines. In addition to learning 10 different machines, they also have training for their Class 3 licence, first aid and workplace safety.

"Most have worked as a labourer, but not an operator," Klimek said. "Working as an operator will more than double their wages and there is the potential to operate in the North country if the pipeline and Mackenzie Valley Highway goes through. They will need operators."

Klimek runs the course in a no-pressure environment that allows the students to try all the machines to find the ones they like the most. He has worked as an operator and teacher for 32 years and knows it's possible to have a career as an operator.

"You can be an operator for a lifetime," Klimek said. "You can do anything, road building, the pipeline, a highway. Wherever there are machines running, there's jobs."

Inuvik students who took the course last year have gone on to work at mines or in the south. The course does include a follow-up with students three months, six months and a year after the course to make sure they have employment.

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