Thank you, Madam Chair. As Members will likely remember, the Diamond Polishing Program at Aurora College did receive an award for being a world-class program and, yes, we are producing people who can move into the polishing factories and take jobs quite well. We're aware that approximately 65 graduates of the program have been employed in Yellowknife in the secondary industry. We don't track how many people were hired and basically did the apprenticeship type of training before the college started to get into the training. The first two years of training offered by the college didn't include the polishing part. It was mostly diamond grading and sorting. So we don't know how many people that didn't go through the college system might also be northerners, but we do know the success rate of people going through the college system finding jobs has been fairly good. Better than 65 to 75 percent on each graduating class are moving directly into employment fairly quickly. So we think that, by and large, northerners are finding jobs there. They are not the only ones working in the field, but it is an opportunity for northerners to work.
Charles Dent on Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 24th, 2005. See this statement in context.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 23rd, 2005
Page 1544
See context to find out what was said next.