Nelson House school blazes northern trail

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This article was published 11/02/2020 (2296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NISICHAWAYASIHK Cree Nation’s education hub for trades is lifting youth out of poverty — and setting a precedent for successful community development programs in First Nations across the country.

Atoskiwin Training and Employment Centre has made a name for itself as a model example of how remote locations can train residents to become carpenters, plumbers and electricians, and, at the same time, build their community’s own energy-efficient housing, hospitals and other infrastructure.

In 2017, the Nelson House school created Pewapun Construction Ltd., a sister construction company, so students of all skill levels could enrol and get paid building contracts in the community while working towards Red Seal certifications.

“I didn’t think it was groundbreaking, but apparently it is,” said Jody Linklater, a Nisichawayasihk member, founder of Pewapun, and newly appointed national program manager at Indigenous YouthBuild Canada.

“We are the only First Nation that pays students for what they’re worth; the day they pick up a hammer is the day we pay them $19.26 an hour.”

The northern training program was named the first Indigenous YouthBuild Canada site. It’s now the go-to example for communities looking to create similar programs, merging class time and an apprenticeship so First Nations students can build local infrastructure as they study.

Within the next six months, Indigenous YouthBuild Canada plans to introduce six more similar sites based on the Nelson House model. There are already four that have been modelled after it and are currently in operation, including a program out of the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology.

Located 800 kilometres north of the Manitoba capital, Nisichawayasihk’s training and employment centre initially provided high school completion programs to students in the community.

It also offered programming based on student interests, which is why a few years ago, it surveyed 545 residents between the ages of 18 to 35, who were on social assistance, about their interests. A total of 170 residents were interested in learning trades.

It launched an accredited Construction Trades Apprenticeship Program, with a class of approximately 30 in 2016. Today, there are upwards of 200 students on the wait list and Pewapun currently employs 55 people in the community — many of which were reliant on welfare payments prior to enrolling in the program.

Damon Yetman, 27, is one of the original students. He and his classmates are expected to collect their level 4 carpenter certificates later this week.

“I feel like I’ve got accomplishment in my life. I’m actually using my skills to do something good, help out my community,” Yetman said.

The certificate has been a long-time coming for the apprentice, who left his northern Manitoba community as a teenager to study trades at Technical Vocational High School in Winnipeg. He went on to study engineering at the University of Manitoba, but dropped out when he found out he was going to be a father, and returned home.

Yetman said he wishes the training program was around when he was a teenager, but it’s better late than never. He plans to set up his own construction company in the community when he graduates so he can continue to contribute to the local economy and support family and friends.

The Pewapun students have already built houses and a hanger. Approximately $100 million in projects, including new schools, hospitals and a wastewater treatment plant — contracts that likely would have been awarded to southern construction companies that would travel to the north — are on the company’s current to-do list.

A new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report on the program notes it’s still in the early stages, but the impact on the community and its young people is “observable,” ranging from youth being empowered with employment opportunities to the community becoming self-reliant in energy due to Pewapun’s solar-powered houses.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie