No trailing behind on the trades: trades trailer hauls Cambrian courses to remote communities.

AuthorMyers, Ella
PositionTraining & Education

The Cambrian College trades trailer has been extending the school's offerings to remote communities for seven years, and just rolled back into Sudbury after another busy season.

The trailer spent the summer in Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, bringing college courses closer to home for students who want to pursue the trades.

"The intent was to be able to offer college programs in remote communities and in particular Indigenous communities," said Richard Ouellet, the director of Cambrian's Wabnode Centre, which brokers many of the agreements with First Nations that access the trailer.

The trades trailer was a gift from Sudbury miner Vale to the college in 2009, and has proved popular in the years since it was introduced, making its way through the North's communities.

"It's pretty much always used," said Ouellet. "Over 200 students have gone through in the life of the trailer."

The trailer is broken down into three separate units, which, when put together, form the 1,000-square-foot space stocked with welding bays, carpentry machinery or whatever equipment is required for a specific module or course.

"It's really difficult to find the shop space with health and safety requirements. There's got to be a certain kind of wiring and insulation, and that's what the trailer does. It meets all those requirements," said Ouellet.

The students using the equipment get to learn near home, but the professionals who teach in the trailer are often sourced from the communities as well.

"We hire people from the area. So, if for example, we're offering a pre-trade course in the trailer, our preference would be to hire someone local, but that's not always an option. Preferably they're red seal and they meet the Ontario college requirements to be an instructor," said Ouellet.

Popular programs include specific training in mining and the more general pre-trades programs.

In 2013, for...

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