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6 Wednesday November 11 2015 EDUCATION TRADES CDETNO is attending Destination Canada November 17-21. Employers contact us to promote your job opportunities Audrey Marceau emploiscdetno.com En recherche de main-duvre Le CDTNO peut vous guider On the lookout for skilled workers CDETNO can guide you Le CDTNO soutient les employeurs tnois dans lembauche de travailleurs qualifis pour combler les emplois aux TNO. Lorsque des emplois qualifis ne sont pas combls localement limmigration peut rpondre aux besoins des entreprises tnoises. CDETNO supports NWT employers in the hiring process of skilled labor. When skilled positions cant be filled locally immigration can help NWT businesses thrive. By CRAIG GILBERT Aurora College threw open the doors last week part of a continued effort to attract students flying over its Thebacha campus in Fort Smith to train in the trades elsewhere. Thebacha campus Apprenticeship pro- gram head Duane MacDonald led the col- leges board of governors on a tour prior to a regular meeting held in conjunction with an open house Nov. 4. MacDonaldstartedteachingintheplumbing program in 2008 and was promoted to pro- gram head in 2012. He toured the governors and guests including Mayor Lynn Napier- Buckley and Councillor Erika Bell through the observer-communicator plumbing heavy equipment operator and technician carpen- try and welding shops. Programs offered at Thebacha campus in- clude Apprenticeship Carpentry Electrician Heavy Equipment Technician Housing Main- tainer PlumberGasfitter and Oil Heat Sys- tems Technician Heavy Equipment Operator and Observer-Communicator. Yellowknifes North Slave campus is home to Underground Miner Training. Community and campus- based programming includes such courses such as Camp Cook Building Trades Helper Pre-Apprenticeship Carpentry Introduction to Underground Mining Mineral Processing Operator and abridged Heavy Equipment Operator. Aurora campus in Inuvik uses the Mobile Trades Training Lab to deliver trades training in the Beaufort-Delta region. MacDonald said instructors spend time between the schools three eight-week deliveries each year staying current with changes to best practices and regulations in their respective trades and updating the cur- riculum to reflect them. Ever-evolving expectations Its constantly evolving MacDonald said. Technology has to be incorporated into the curriculum. Our instructors teach full days from eight in the morning until four oclock up to 11 courses each depending on the pro- gram for eight weeks straight. He said a more detailed tour would have revealed a lot more yellow referring to the distinctive paint job on Caterpillar equip- ment millions of dollars worth including a new excavator dump trucks graders and bulldozers. The college has 26 heavy vehicles in all to provide campus-based training for enrolled students as well as members of the community. Whenyoucomparetheamountofseattime they get in even the shortest program we offer its more than what they get in other areas of the country MacDonald said. Donated or discounted equipment is every- where. In the plumbing shop 5000 worth of heating controls provided by manufac- turer Taco lets students run pieces of equip- ment through their paces the same way they would in the field. The open house is part of a broader effort to improve enrolment in trades programs. For us apprenticeship numbers have been going down in the last few years and yet the number of apprentices in the territories is pretty steady MacDonald explained. So it doesnt take a scientist to figure out students are flying over us. I wish there was a way we could fill these seats because were sometimes running with half a class or less or were can- celling classes. Thats hard because you end up having to scramble to keep your staff busy. One carpentry delivery in the fall was can- celled for that reason. The team also has a series of videos in the works created to give those potential students in remote communities an up-close look at Auroras trades facilities. I would love to have more people from the community come through here MacDonald said. I want to do another open house at the same time as the towns trade show in the spring and even coordinate shuttles from the arena to the campus. A substitute teacher by day Bell was so im- pressed with MacDonalds tour she is think- ing about trying out a trade. I love how they stress safety and sanitation and it is evident in each room we visited she said. We were informed that the electrician instructor installed a few solar panels that the students study throughout the year and I found this quite interesting. I discovered that the majority of the trades instructors are from Fort Smith and are also Aurora College alumni. It is great that they hire local North- ern workers. Aurora College puts trades on display at Thebacha campus open house Fort Smith mayor and member of the Aurora College Board of Governors Lynn Napier- Buckley tries her hand at driving a virtual dump truck on a simulator in the heavy equipment operatortechnician lab. PhotoCraigGilbert