Government-industry partnership continues to build strong local workforce for mines

It’s the end of an era at The Mine Training Society of the NWT.

After 13 years, longtime executive director Hillary Jones is retiring.  The task of filling Hillary’s enormous work boots now goes to her successor Shari Caudron.

The change comes as the society marks an exciting 15-year anniversary in the NWT and provides us with an opportune occasion to look back and celebrate the role it has played in the local mining industry, and why that matters for those looking to invest in the Northwest Territories.

Rising to the Challenge

The Society came into being in 2004 because the NWT realized it had a problem. With two diamond mines coming online and agreements with companies to make best efforts to hire local, there were nowhere near enough skilled local workers to fill demand.

So the mines came together with the federal and territorial governments to form the Mine Training Society with a mandate to offer training, career counselling and other services designed to ready a local workforce to fill industry’s labour demand.

The model has since been duplicated in Northern Ontario, BC and other jurisdictions.

Getting results

Since its inception, the Society has trained nearly 7600 people with real skills that apply to the workplace.

Even more impressively, the organization has directly facilitated employment for 1590 people. In a territory with only 45,000 people, that amounts to around 7 per cent of the total local workforce, an impressive metric.

Empowering Indigenous peoples

A large percentage of that number can be chalked up to Indigenous employees who currently make up around 20-25 per cent of employees at NWT mines.

That comes from direct partnerships between the Society and local Indigenous governments, who often nominate members of their communities and provide funding to the organization.

Why does it matter?

For companies eager to keep their social bona fides strong and gain support from the community, a local workforce which can fill labour needs is a big plus.

The Society also reflects the territory’s recognition that local employment is a goal which can’t just be shouldered by the company — that government must play a role in furnishing NWT residents with the skills that meet company needs.

In this regard, the Mine Training Society has contributed to government commitments, in socio economic agreements, to provide a healthy, trained workforce from which NWT projects can draw.

Money, meet mouth

And that recognition has real money behind it. Since 2004, the Society and its partners have invested more than $120 million in the cause.

In 2019, it started delivering a $25,000 annual scholarship for both academic and practical students in partnership with the Diamond Empowerment Fund.

With a new era beginning for the Society, one thing is clear: there are no plans on slowing down as it pushes its mission of preparing local residents to staff the NWT mining industry.