Investing in the trades
Trades Awareness Program should continue if federal funding cut – co-ordinator
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 20, 2013
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Students from across the South Slave region built job skills and picnic tables during the latest Awareness in Trades Program held in Fort Smith, earlier this month. The program, originally scheduled for spring, was held early because organizers are concerned the federal budget may axe funding in March.
Paul William Kaeser High School student Krista Johnson hammers a nail during the carpentry module at the Trades Awareness Program held at Aurora College in Fort Smith earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Stephen Lee
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The program is run through a partnership between the education council, Aurora College, and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, along with federal funding.
"In previous years, the intensive program was held in the spring, but there is some concern that the federal program that the Trades Awareness Program uses will be eliminated in the March (federal) budget," said Stephen Lee, public affairs co-ordinator at the South Slave Divisional Education Council.
The 34 participating students, a majority of them young women, and five chaperones gathered at Aurora College's Thebacha campus from Dec. 9 to 12 to build hands-on skills in the fields of carpentry, electrical, mechanics and cooking. Students from Grades 8 to 11 at Lutsel K'e Dene School, Deninu School in Fort Resolution, Paul William Kaeser Secondary School in Fort Smith, Diamond Jenness Secondary School in Hay River, and Chief Sunrise Education Centre on K'atlodeeche First Nation took part.
The intensive course built on the introductory program held at the college earlier this past fall.
"In the introductory program, you might have kids who have never driven a nail before, but in the intensive program, base skills are assumed and you can get a more in-depth approach," Lee said.
Students in the mechanics program disassembled and reassembled a transmission, cooking students catered the four-day program, electrical students worked on a mock construction site and carpentry students built picnic tables.
"Now we have a bunch of the picnic tables sitting in our hallway to send to the communities," Lee said, referring to five tables lining the halls in the education council's Fort Smith office.
Program co-ordinator Janie Hobart, whose late husband co-founded the program in 2004, said the two-phase course prepares young people for the many trades jobs available throughout the territory.
"It's a great program and the kids love it,"
"We know right now that there are so many shortages in the trades across Canada," Hobart said. "The training is less expensive and you're able to spend more time in your home community than if you choose to take other forms of post-secondary education. And there are jobs when you get out. In the trades you are almost guaranteed a job and the money's good."
Numerous students choose to take the Trades Awareness Program multiple times throughout their high school years, she added.
According to a study commissioned by the education council in 2011, between seven and 20 per cent of students participating in the program continue on to pursue careers in the trades.
The program is too successful and too necessary to let slip due to lack of funding, Hobart said.
"The federal government hasn't made a decision whether they're going to continue (funding)," she said. "Should they not, I think there is the potential to look at other opportunities for funding. Many of the big companies that are definitely needing more trades people in their workforce provide opportunities for partnerships," she said. "The concept of the program is very strong. We just have to look at different ways of funding it."
