Training society seeks funding
Organization hopes track record will earn federal funding extension
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
RANKIN INLET/KIVALLIQ
The past month has been pressure packed for one of the Kivalliq's more successful training programs.
A two-year funding agreement with Employment and Social Development Canada was set to run out on the Kivalliq Mine Training Society (KMTS) on March 31.
While it's still supported by Nunavut's Economic Development and Transportation, that's not enough for the society to continue its operations.
An application has been filed with the federal government for a funding extension for the society.
Executive director Ken Kerr said the society remains very optimistic the extension will be granted.
He said the organization has a great plan for the next year, which has also been submitted to the feds.
"At this point, we're just waiting for the phone to ring, but there's no way of knowing when, or if, they're going to approve it," said Kerr.
"We've spent $6.96 million of what I would call new money for the region.
"It wasn't from a previous program that anyone had entitlement to, but money the KTMS went out and got.
"On top of that, we leveraged another $5 million in cash and in-kind contributions from Agnico Eagle, the hamlets and local employers."
The society had about 750 participants in labour market training programs during the past two years.
Of those, 570 successfully completed their program.
The society has seen 358 participants find a job, earn a promotion if employed, return to school or take further training.
Kerr said the numbers represent fantastic results.
He said there's also been significant qualitative results.
"The Nunavut Literacy Society ran the Miqqut program twice and held a workshop on teaching embedded literacy techniques.
"And an independent evaluation showed communities can deliver the approach it developed.
"We also gained entry into the world of mine families dealing with fly-in and fly-out work conditions.
"We did a needs assessment, and developed a coping-skills course called Making It Work, which early feedback indicates is really making a difference."
Kerr said the KTMS also developed a number of partnerships.
He said contributions to the training programs from hamlets and nearby employers have been outstanding.
"Peter's Expediting and Arctic Fuels in Baker Lake, and M&T in Rankin Inlet, have lent us equipment and provided fuel, while the hamlets have contributed funds.
"Our manager of program delivery, Evan Morrison, did a fantastic job in stretching every dollar we had.
"A lot of drivers had gone to work with Agnico Eagle when we first started, creating a deficit of drivers in the hamlets.
"So we did a lot of Class 1 and Class 3 air-brakes training, and we've had huge support from the communities for that, as well as training we put on for out-of-school and out-of-work youth."
Morrison said the KMTS brought course participants from Coral Harbour to Rankin for a four-day air-brakes course through Nunavut Arctic College.
He said they then did a three-week work-readiness program, followed by Class 3 driver training.
"All nine who wrote the Class 3 test passed, including two unilingual participants who took the test orally," said Morrison.
"And they all passed without a single rewrite, which never happened for us before.
"That may have resulted from us getting better at recruiting by working with the hamlets to select better participants, and experimenting with different programming around the region to find the best way to implement it.
"Some models worked better than others, but the Coral group is one example of a great success we had with a smaller community."
The society put 24 people through the college's pre-trades program, with 18 passing their trade-entry exam.
Morrison said Chris Meeko was supporting a family of three on a convenience-store salary before taking the pre-trades program.
Meeko's now working in Rankin as an electrician's apprentice.
"Having him go from working part time in a convenience store to being an apprentice in the trade he wanted is a great success for us," said Morrison.
"The support we received from the communities, and the partnerships we created with local employers, were a huge accomplishment for us.
"Being a former economic development officer with the Hamlet of Rankin Inlet helped me to develop relationships around the region.
"I took advantage of that, and we were able to train more people and offer more programming than we expected because of the partnerships we developed."
