Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about mine training opportunities in small communities. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
How would someone in Fort Providence currently, for example, access mine training for a job at Prairie Creek?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the process is, of course, through various training initiatives within the Mine Training Society. They have reached out to certain communities and I believe they will be going to the Deh Cho riding, as well, and Prairie Creek, possibly around the Fort Simpson area and surrounding communities. They have done so with the diamond mines and surrounding communities. I believe that is the normal process where they will be visiting and meeting with the community of Fort Simpson, the largest community, then expanding out to regional communities to deliver those training programs. Opportunity will be there.
I would encourage those individuals who are interested in training to submit their application or resumes to the Mine Training Society, even to my department or the ITI department and we can forward that to the appropriate group, the standing committee that’s out there.
I know there’s been a lot of good work that the Mine Training Society has done, but why is mine training not offered in so many of our small communities where jobs are scarce and unemployment is high?
We’ve heard that when we were visiting the communities that were not impacted, there are some developments that are happening in preferably the Deh Cho riding that we have identified and we need to reach out to those communities. We are working closely with the federal government to expand the Mine Training Society into those areas. We talk about the Beaufort-Delta. How can we assist in those areas with any training that’s required? It’s been brought up in the House here. We are doing what we can to engage and also get support from the federal government on the long-term plan. That’s an ongoing discussion we are currently having. The Mine Training Society is up and running as we speak, and will be reaching out to Fort Simpson and the surrounding communities.
I’d like to thank the Minister for his response. It’s encouraging that the Minister has indicated that there is an engagement process, at least, with the communities. Will the Minister work with the communities of Fort Providence and the K’atlodeeche First Nation to establish local delivery of mine training within the near future?
The overall plan not only of the Mine Training Society but within my department, the Labour Market Development Agreement both from the federal government, we want to reach out to all communities as best as we can. Through the Mine Training Society, the Hay River Reserve and also Fort Providence, and also Kakisa and the surrounding communities, that we can definitely approach and work with the leadership and work with the educators in the communities, as well, also industries. Industries are all partners in this venue.
I will invite the Member to have a more detailed discussion on this particular area, and also with the communities, so I will definitely look forward to those visits to the communities.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Biomass Initiative has been a major significant, positive development in my region, in the South Slave region, but also expanding further north. It’s been on the radar for some time. I wanted to know what level of preparedness has the department entered into in preparing communities that will be affected by a forest management agreement with potential for a plant to be situated somewhere in Hay River? What kind of training has the department, perhaps, forecast in terms of training needs at the community level for this major project?
When we talk about training in the communities, there are certain parties involved, whether it be ENR or ITI. There are interdepartmental committees working closely with the regional groups. There is a steering committee that is established to identify those needs, whether it be the biomass, and areas of training that are required by the Deh Cho region. Definitely, those are areas that we need to identify as part of whether it be a month, two months, however the length of training program that’s required, and then identify those individuals that are interested. It is the grassroots people that we need to work with, the regional representatives, and they’re the ones who will guide us on what’s needed in the region. We will continue to update the Member on the progress itself.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
