In the spirit of celebrating Mining Week this week, I would to take this opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate 11 women who recently completed the Building Trades Helper Program under the Northern Women in Mining, Oil and Gas Project.
This program provides workplace exposure to women in trade occupations such as carpentry, electrical, welding, plumbing and other trades integral to the mining, oil and gas industries. The governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories, industry and Aurora College all partnered with the Status of Women Council to provide financial support, housing, hands-on site training and upgrading in preparation for them to write the trades entrance examination.
Mr.
Speaker, northern women are under-
represented in industrial trades, which means northern women are a huge untapped labour resource that the industry is eager to have working on their projects. I’m pleased to see northern women enrol in this program, and I encourage them to explore the lucrative opportunities available to them in industry.
I commend the Status of Women Council and their numerous industry partners for their insight in providing this type of program for the training of women in the industrial trades.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to invite the Members of the Legislative Assembly to join me in recognizing 11 northern women from all regions of the Northwest Territories who have already taken a giant step forward: Sharon Gauthier, Joyce Greenland, Valerie Kimiksana, Laura Krutko, Shirley Niditchie, Stephanie Smutylo, Emelda King, Doris Rabesca, Sarah Tautuajuk, Kayla Crozier and Jennifer McDonald.