(File photo/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Elliott Knopp

Career Training

Meadow Lake, Flying Dust hosting scaffolding career program

Jan 24, 2022 | 3:16 PM

An annual program designed to assist people with training for high-demand careers is set to take place later this season.

The Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) is holding a scaffolding program that will provide learners with all of the skills and knowledge necessary to begin a career.

The program includes both hands-on and classroom training in building and tearing down scaffolding for building projects. Graduates of the program will be equipped and prepared for work with unionized and non-unionized employment opportunities.

Speaking with meadowlakeNOW, job coach Lorne Robertson said the program is offered in Meadow Lake and Flying Dust First Nation due to the region’s consistently high demand for workers in the line of work.

“There’s always a need. We do scaffolding in all the mills,” he said.

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The program is a part of a broader project that helps local communities find work in other fields that are also in high-demand in their respective areas. The programs are run each year to help industries operate with a strengthened workforce.

“This is an introduction to construction,” Robertson added. “People that graduate the scaffolding program, if they’re successful we’re more than likely to put them in other construction programs also.”

Other upcoming programs in the community include carpentry, plumbing, electrical and auto service. There is also a guest services program for people who don’t want to work in the trades, but would rather pursue a career in the high-demand hospitality industry.

Robertson explained these programs provide graduates with everything needed to find success within their respective industries.

“They’re job-ready as soon as they leave here. They’ll have the education, they have no excuse not to go, and then we fundamentally do our best to find them employment in that field.”

The scaffolding course is a six-week program. Classes run from Monday to Friday for 6 hours a day. No independent learning or homework is included in the program unless lessons are attended late or missed.

A Grade 10 education with a completed Grade 10 math course is required for anyone to be considered for the program. Anyone looking to register for the program can contact the Meadow Lake Career Centre by phone at 306-234-2375.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp