The College of New Caledonia’s Vanderhoof and Fort St James campus will each have a new program come September 2016.
In Vanderhoof, local students will be able take level one apprenticeship training as a millwright.
“We me with the community and the community expressed a desire for millwright training” CNC President Henry Reiser said, adding that there was a wave of funding made available near the end of this year
“Based on that, and meetings with the Dean and VP Academic and the community this was identified as a top priority and we are going forward with delivering.”
At the Fort St James campus, new training options will be offered to those who have completed the construction craft pilot program.
“This is targeted to a First Nations community specifically and requested by that community. THey are being employed by their band and doing this work in their region.” Reiser said
He says graduates of the program will “fulfill a role that used to be called a labourer… Now it is a certified red seal trade in Canada and BC is now adopting that.”
Both programs were funded in part with a grant from the province worth $400,000.
* A previous version of the story indicated a full construction craft program was launching, when in fact additional training is being offered to students who completed a pilot for for the program