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All-female heavy equipment course ushers Northern women into trades

Aurora College has brought an all-female presence to the world of trades via a partnership with the Mine Training Society.
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Rosanne Taneton, top left, Deserae Jonasson, bottom left, Judy-Lynn Matto, centre, Tianna Zoe-Mackenzie, bottom right, and Cindi-dawn Heron-Loutit, top right, are among seven female students in the heavy equipment operators course provided by Aurora College in partnership with the Mine Training Society. Photo courtesy of Duane MacDonald

Aurora College has brought an all-female presence to the world of trades via a partnership with the Mine Training Society.

Through the collaboration, the college was able to bring together a class of seven women who were interested in participating in the heavy equipment operators (HEO) division of industrial training.

“It’s our existing program, the parent program that we’ve run for years,” said Duane MacDonald, chair of the School of Trades, Apprenticeship and Industrial Training. “(It’s) 15 weeks. It’s always been open to a mixed class. (This year), we partnered with the Mine Training Society to offer specific women HEO delivery. It’s been really successful.”

The work between Aurora College and the Mine Training Society has been highly successful, according to MacDonald, and it goes back to the society’s inception in 2003.

“We’ve been able to get it (the course) out to participants from different communities within the NWT,” he said. “We’re in the midst of it right now. We finished the classroom component, we’re just finishing it actually. We’re just about ready to step into the equipment end of things, and so far the feedback has been 100 per cent positive.”

MacDonald acknowledged some challenges with student accommodations, however.

“In some of our housing set-ups, we put students together,” he said. “Now, here we are, with many, many students coming in and we’re having to try and keep all the female (students) together, or keep them in their own support units. So that provided a bit of a challenge, but nothing that we weren’t able to get through.”

With regards to why the course was offered, the interest has always been there from female residents of the territories, MacDonald said.

“I think, just based off of the labour market needs and underrepresented groups, I think it makes sense to have a specific class like this,” he said. “I mean, it helps the NWT labour market, but it also helps female Northern residents get into this type of training that, in the past, I won’t say primarily, but it has been mostly a male dominated field,” he said. “So, it’s great to see women get into this, as well as other trades.”

Based on interest and the success of the current course, another female class is being looked into with a March 2022 time frame in mind.