Asset-making

Thursday, December 16, 2010

FIRST NATIONS TRAINING INITIATIVE PROVES A WIN-WIN

By Ryan Stewart | Mineral Exploration | Winter 2010 | Download PDF

 

When Deb Camille got the call from New Gold, offering her a spot in their underground miner-training program, she nearly cried tears of joy. “For me, it’s like winning the lottery,” she says. As long as she continued to work hard she had just landed herself a new career.

At 45, after a life of working in construction, she thought she had missed her chance. Camille credits the BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association (BCAMTA), a new program that is helping aboriginal people and mineral exploration and mining companies in British Columbia, with the phone call that changed her life. “I owe a lot to them,” Camille says. “They made me realize I could do it. They gave me the confidence to try.”

Camille’s story is not unique. Since it opened in April, BCAMTA has helped 258 First Nations people start down a new career path, while at the same time filling a need for new employees in the province’s mineral exploration and mining industries. With $27.1 million in funding and in-kind contributions and with a mandate until 2012, Laurie Sterritt, the association’s executive director, says the program is already well on the way to achieving its goals.

“We’re here to bridge the gap between low representation of aboriginal workers in heavy industries and a mining sector on an upswing that anticipates a workforce shortage in the near future,” she says. “There’s a ready supply of aboriginal candidates and a high demand for new employees in mining.” The fit seems natural, but the problem is most lack the skills required for the jobs. That’s where BCAMTA comes in.

As one of the newest Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership efforts, it aims to build the skills and confidence of First Nations job-seekers from the central and northwestern interior of B.C. so they can better compete for positions at mines and on mineral exploration projects. Founded in September 2009 with $22.7 million in in-kind contributions from mining companies and associations and $4.4 million from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, it is based out of two offices – the main one in Kamloops, which opened in April 2010, and a branch office in Dease Lake.

Key to the program’s success is BCAMTA’s partnerships with several mining companies, namely Imperial Metals Corporation, New Gold Inc., Teck Resources Limited, Hard Creek Nickel Corp., Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. and Prize Mining Corp., whose HR departments communicate with program staff about future employee needs. BCAMTA also works with postsecondary institutions BCIT, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and Northwest Community College on the educational side. “There’s a real effort from all involved to change the status quo,” says Sterritt. “Together the partnerships can tackle the systemic employment issues facing aboriginal people in B.C.”

While no two candidates are identical, James Decoine’s story is fairly typical. The Kamloops Indian Band member was laid off from a security job at a casino earlier in the year. With a new family and tired of changing jobs every couple of years, the 25-yearold heard about BCAMTA through the Aboriginal Employment Centre in Kamloops. “I was looking for a new career path,” he says. “I’d applied to work in mines many times before, but I’d never gotten anywhere.”

He sat down with regional manager Leonard Jackson and the two went over his skills, education, employment history and goals. They worked out a plan to turn Decoine into a legitimate contender for the job he wanted. “We get to know the candidate,” says Sterritt. “We assess them, build a profile and figure out their best opportunities and what they’re best suited to.”

Decoine hoped to get into underground mining but kept his options open to operate equipment in an openpit mine. “There was lots of work to be done,” Decoine says. He started with the one course he needed for his adult Dogwood, a high-school equivalent. From there he built up his skills and certifications: first aid, air brakes and dangerous goods transportation. BCAMTA paid for the courses and helped cover his transportation costs. Four months after he started, and numerous exams later, Decoine was accepted into the underground minertraining program at New Gold’s New Afton project.

Aboriginal Women in Trades program at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, B.C., Fall 2010. Top row left to right: Vanessa Louie, Roselle Peters, Sandra Char, Anna Chelsea, Angela Nikal, Cynthia Rosette, Jessica Michell, Lorraine Labrosse, Daniel Langton and Bernadette Jacob. Bottom row left to right: Laurie George, Jackie Camille, Rhoda Dick, Shawna McDonald, Megan George and Margaret Huff (Essential Skills instructor).

 

“It’s a lifelong experience for me,” he says. “There are lots of advancement opportunities and it’s a good job, close to home.” He says the BCAMTA program did more than help him beef up his resumé. “I could never get an interview before. They helped me to get in the door and then be the top candidate.” “

We work closely with the HR departments,” Sterritt says. “We know what their long-term hiring plans are and so we can prepare our candidates for them.” Sterritt’s team knew that 25 underground mining jobs would be available at the New Afton mine. “We looked at our candidates and knew which ones were most suitable for the jobs,” she says. “And then we helped them prepare.” BCAMTA candidates landed 18 of the 25 positions.

“It proves what we are doing is working,” she says. “Mines are fulfilling their obligations in their impact agreements and now some are exceeding their targets.” At New Gold, the HR department now directs all First Nation applicants to go through BCAMTA.

As the New Afton project worked towards production, Ann Wallin, its human resource manager, was already seeing a lack of experienced miners available for the Kamloops-area mine. “There was a lot of miners in their 50s in mining and we haven’t introduced new blood to the industry in B.C. in a long time,” she says. “As a company we wanted to develop a culture where employees saw their job here as long term. We wanted our employees to live in the community and be a part of the community. Who better to draw from than the local aboriginal community. They’ve lived here a long time.”

But with up to 1,000 resumés landing on her desk daily, it was impossible for Wallin and New Gold to screen candidates with those goals in mind. Some resumés were hand-written faxes. Even with the more promising ones, if a skill was lacking for a specific job, there was nothing the company could do but reject them. By sending First Nation candidates through BCAMTA each person received personal attention. There is the dedicated enthusiasm and opportunity to understand what skills are missing and to assist the job-seekers in acquiring them.

Martha Manuel, the First Nations coordinator at New Gold, says the difference was obvious during the interview process. “Before, many aboriginal candidates would really struggle with the interview and testing process,” she says. “The ones that I’m seeing that have been through BCAMTA engage and communicate with confidence. They’re doing astoundingly well.” And they’re not just looking at being hired for a job, but as an opportunity to work their way up. Of New Gold’s 239 employees, 48 are aboriginal and 30 of those came through the BCAMTA program.

Wallin and Manuel say the program will benefit other mines in the Kamloops area as well as the community itself, especially with the educational opportunities Sterritt and her team are creating. When BCAMTA saw a need for a heavy equipment operator-training program in Kamloops, they approached Thompson Rivers University. A program was created with an aboriginal focus and administered by TRU. Mining companies donated land for the program to use.

The association is also working to improve opportunities for aboriginal women. Again with TRU, it supported the development of a trade exploration pilot project for aboriginal women where they are exposed to a different trade every week to learn what trades they might be interested in. If the women are successful in completing the introductory program, they may also qualify for fully funded foundational training for trades needed in mining. To get into the program, each applicant had to write an essay. BCAMTA helped 75 per cent of the accepted students.

“Economic opportunities in many First Nation communities are pretty bleak. The opportunities we’re offering can be a game-changer for the individual, their family and community,” Sterritt says. “We’re helping them in ways that have never been done before. We help them see the options and figure out how to get there. It gives them confidence to go for it.”

New Gold has hired 30 employees through BCAMTA. Pat Gagnon of New Gold (far left) with BCAMTA graduates A.J. Lindley, Dustin Gordon, Dennis DeRose, Darien Minnabarriet, Brad Neufeld and Cody Jules. Leonard Jackson, BCAMTA regional manager (far right).

 

The results are heart warming. Sterritt points to one candidate in particular. “He was never seen as having any potential,” she remembers. He was barely employable and had issues with drugs and alcohol, but once he got into BCAMTA he dried up, worked on his skills and landed an entry-level job at a mine. “He is the proudest employee you’ll ever find,” she says. “He never did anything for society and never imagined he could. Now he provides for his family.” Sterritt says a lot of aboriginal people have never had someone believe in them and tell them they can reach for and obtain their goals. Sometimes, she says, that’s all they need to be successful, a sentiment echoed by Deb Camille. The member of the Kamloops-area Skeetchestn Indian Band spent most of her adult life working in construction in and around Kamloops. In her 40s she decided to go back to school at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops to get a BA in theatre and arts, but without an income it was a tough go. She found out about the BCAMTA program and became a candidate, eventually landing a spot in the underground miner-training program.

“I was very nervous,” she says. “I’m an aboriginal, female and I’m 45. I was scared I was making a career change too late.” But the counsellors at BCAMTA encouraged her, helping with interview skills and to prepare for the numerous tests she was required to take for entry into the hiring process at the local mines.

“I don’t think I would have had the confidence to go through all the interviews and testing without BCAMTA’s support,” Camille says. “The program was a real boost. It wasn’t intimidating or scary.” She thinks anyone could benefit from the program, especially the next generation.

“I notice the youth in my community are shy,” she says. “If they had someone who believed in them and gave them a little boost in confidence they could do so much more with their lives.”

 

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