Getting youth ready for Ring of Fire

Aboriginal youth now have another way to get involved in the mining industry — Oshki-Pimache-O-Win Education and Training Institute’s L2M: Learning 2 Mine project.
“We are trying to get NAN youth ready for the Ring of Fire,” said Gordon Kakegamic, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s e-learning coordinator. “There are so many different development activities happening out there, the Musselwhite Mine, the Victor Mine, the Northgate Minerals Mine, and so many opportunities for Aboriginal youth.”
Kakegamic has heard plenty of interest from community members about careers in the mining industry.
“Some of them just want to jump into the technical stream,” Kakegamic said. “They want to learn how to use equipment, and I tell them you have to start with the fundamental knowledge and skills.”
Kakegamic said the L2M youth web portal, which will likely be launched in late 2012, provides features for youth engagement, mining literacy, career guidance and recruitment to get Aboriginal youth into technical mining training programs across Ontario.
The L2M also includes an Essential Skills Online program that provides students with the fundamental knowledge and skills to apply for employment and training programs in the mining industry.
“Aboriginal people are Canada’s youngest population and a very fast growing population,” said Kellie Leitch, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, during a Feb. 4 announcement at Oshki-Pimache-O-Win in Thunder Bay. “It is therefore in all of our interests to see Aboriginal people educated, skilled and employed.”
Leitch said $700,000 was being provided for the L2M project from the federal government’s Skills and Partnership Fund, which was launched in July 2010 with a federal investment of $210 million over five years to encourage partnerships between Aboriginal organizations and the government, business and community organizations creating opportunities for Aboriginal people.
“By working with partners such as (Oshki-Pimache-O-Win), we are ensuring that Aboriginal Canadians can take full advantage of economic opportunities, whether it be in local areas here or elsewhere in Canada,” Leitch said.
Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s L2M project will provide about 100 Aboriginal youth with the mining literacy and essential skills development, training and work experience needed to work in the mining industry.
“We will be able to provide knowledge and skills for our young people who so desperately need it,” said Rosie Mosquito, Oshki-Pimache-O-Win’s executive director. “We have the highest suicide rate in the territory because of hopelessness because there are no opportunities, there are no jobs and we have an extraordinarily high rate of prescription drug abuse and other concerns that impact on our young people and our communities at large.”
Oshki-Pimache-O-Win was established by the NAN chiefs in 1996 to provide increased access to and success in accredited post-secondary education for their community members as well as other learners.
Grand Chief Stan Beardy said the L2M project will provide an opportunity for Nishnawbe Aski Nation youth to get mining industry jobs in their homeland, noting that many youth cannot currently access training to get into the mining industry.
“There is tremendous potential for wealth creation within our territory — we have diamonds, gold, platinum, chromite, everything the world wants, Canada wants and Ontario wants,” Beardy said. “In many cases we have major resource development activities adjacent to our reserves, our communities and yet my people, especially my young people, cannot participate. Why is that? It’s because they don’t have the skills necessary to do the job.”
In addition to providing training, Beardy said the L2M project will provide them with confidence in their future.
“It will be a boost in their confidence to know that what they learn here is relevant and in demand today,” Beardy said. “It’s a big step forward for our people on the ground and it’s a start.”