Up to 40 people from God’s Lake Narrows, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Marcel Colomb Cree Nation and Mosakahiken Cree Nation will receive wilderness safety training through a partnership between the provincial government, Workplace Education Manitoba, University College of the North, the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy and First Nation Mining Economic Development Inc.
The province is spending $170,000 on the program to help prepare indigenous people for mining and environmental industry careers, said Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart in a Feb. 13 press release.
“This training program will help connect indigenous people in the north with well-paying jobs and strengthen indigenous participation in sectors of the economy integral to the region,” said Wishart. “It reaffirms our commitment to provide young people in this province with the tools they need and the hands-on experience necessary to build promising careers.”
Training in OCN and God’s Lake Narrows has already been completed and is currently underway in Mosakahiken Cree Nation, with Marcel Colomb Cree Nation participants the last to be trained in life and essential skills as well as conventional wilderness safety training. The hope is that graduates will find employment in areas such as mining exploration or advance to formal prospector training.
“Our organization has a vision of building community capacity through the wilderness safety and intensive prospector training programs,” said Mosakahiken Cree Nation Chief Jim Tobacco, who is president of First Nation Mining Economic Development Inc. “It will help to boost creativity to find the next big mine within our ancestral lands.”
Municipal and Indigenous Relations Minister Eileen Clarke said that indigenous participation in Manitoba’s economy is key to the province’s future and that the provincial government wants to build stronger relationships and lasting economic development partnerships with First Nations.
Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, who represents 30 Northern Manitoba First Nations, said in a Feb. 3 statement that indigenous participation in all sectors of the economy is extremely important to Manitoba’s future.
“We are continuing to communicate with the federal and provincial governments the need to advance and increase opportunities for employment, business and sustainability for northern First Nations youth and families,” she said in an emailed statement. “We hope that as the provincial government plans to meet in the north, that they work with indigenous residents to ensure northern First Nations are included and engaged in its northern initiatives.”
“I invite provincial and federal governments and the private sector to work with us to ensure financial security and economic growth for northern First Nations as this will benefit this province as a whole as increased participation will result in greater economic growth,” North Wilson wrote.
