Northern post secondary schools respond to trades demand.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: MINING

Up to 100,000 positions are expected to go unfilled in the Canadian mining industry in the coming decade, a reality of which Northern Ontario post-secondary schools are all too aware as they work to narrow the gap.

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Demand for skilled workers is so rampant that Boreal has found it necessary to expand its Timmins site, which is struggling to suit the growing needs of industry, according to Daniel Giroux, director of Entreprises Boreal.

As a result, a new 43,000-square-foot site is in the works, which will allow the school to move from 109 students to 371, effectively tripling its capacity It will consolidate the multiple buildings scattered throughout the city, and will focus largely on skilled labor by catering to millwrights, heavy equipment mechanics, plumbing and construction.

The architectural designs have been put out for tender, with the full building expected to be tendered in March 2008. The first group of students will likely be attending in September 2009.

"There's been a rising demand for students from Xstrata and contractors alike, so this was something we had to do," Giroux says.

The demand for skilled trades apprentices is so rampant that companies regularly approach skilled trades classes in their first semester to make presentations and conduct interviews and tests.

In fact, industry poaching of students is so widespread that College Boreal has to tell its students about the importance of completing all three years of the program rather than being recruited to join the workforce in the second year, Giroux says.

Six "big players", which include CVRD-Inco, Xstrata Nickel and Sandvik, and a number of smaller firms frequently pass through Cambrian College in October and November, according to Michel Barbeau, dean of the School of Skills Training/SkyTech.

"It's just that competitive right now," Barbeau says.

"It's to the point where we're seeing that level of interest from employers right off the bat."

To help cope with the constant growth of interest in its graduates, Cambrian has also had to make some additions, with a new machining lab having been established this year. With 12 additional stations, the expansion allows for up to 80 more machining and millwright apprentices to be trained every year.

The welder/fitter training facilities have also been expanded by 20 welding booths, bringing the total to 45.

These expansions have required the addition of three new staff in the millwright, automotive and...