Town & Country

T H O M P S O N WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2018 3 Car Wash Gas & Sundries Confectionary Sears Outlet Coffee & Snacks Coin Operated Laundromat Septic Services Welder Supply Air Hydraulic Hose & Fittings Sled & Quad Parts & Accessories Klim & Choko Apparel McDONALD LAW OFFICE PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.mcdonaldlaw.ca FAMILY LAW FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION 204-927-3900 TOLL FREE: 1-800-393-1110 EMAIL: mcdonaldlaw@shaw.ca 258 Tache Avenue, Wpg, MB R2H 1Z9 BOARDMAN / NORTHLAND FUNERAL SERVICE Serving Northern Manitoba JAMES C. BOARDMAN Funeral Director 28 Nelson Road Chapel 778-7982 Thompson, Manitoba R8N 0B4 Res. 677-4636 www.boardmanfh.com Toll Free 1-800-461-6876 MPI COLLISION & GLASS ACCREDITION P: (204) 421-1300 F: (204) 421-1301 E: info@townautobody.ca w w w . t o w n a u t o b o d y . c a FREE COURTESY CAR 64 Salter Street, Winnipeg MB R2W 4J6 Recruiting for Co-op General Managers, Assistant Managers, Relief Managers, Cooks, Hotel/Cook Managers in the Arctic. Also various roles in home office (Winnipeg, MB) Visit our website for all open positions www.arctic.coop Please send you r resume to: HumanResources@Arctic.Coop OR fax: 1-204-632-8575 Class Action: Workforce training underway at UCN B Y H O L L I M O N C R I E F F The new Northern Workforce Development Centre (NWDC) at the University College of the North (UCN) campus in Thompson is off to a good start. Helping to create clear paths from training to employment and responding to the needs of the labour market, the centre is providing skills training and workplace safety courses. A joint venture between UCN, the provincial government and Thompson 2020, the centre was officially opened in May. It has been staffed since July and has already welcomed about 300 students. "We're trying to level the playing field, and make it easier for people in northern communities to be employed and stay safe on the job," says Robert Penner, associate vice-president, UCN Community and Industry Solutions. "The centre's mandate is to develop short and medium-duration training programs for Thompson and the surrounding area — Thompson is a service centre for the surrounding communities, like Nelson House. We're focused on up-skilling." Vale and other employers will have staff attend the NWDC for workplace safety training, which is in demand throughout the North. "One of our objectives is to provide safety certificate training in Thompson for roughly the same price as what it costs in Winnipeg. Taking the training here is more cost-effective," Penner says. Sending employees to Winnipeg for training was cost-prohibitive and ardu- ous, and the loss of an employee during the required travel and training time often made this option inaccessible for smaller companies. "Some companies may only have one person employed that can do opera- tion X," Penner says. "The students are as happy as can be, having this training offered close to home." UCN has two main campuses, in The Pas and Thompson, along with 12 regional centres from Swan River to Churchill, nine of which are located on First Nations. NWDC services will be expanded to other centres, starting with Swan River. NWDC has been building on the relationships UCN has with industry partners, and the centre's training programs will respond to the needs of em- ployers in multiple industries, from health care to heavy construction. "The centre is another way of increasing what we're doing in the North, and it's an advantage to the people in these communities," Penner says. "It's a matter of asking, 'Can we in some way help fill these shortages?' We see this as a need and we want to help fill the needs of the North." "The centre's mandate is to develop short and medium-duration training programs for Thompson and the surrounding area — Thompson is a service centre for the surrounding communities, like Nelson House. We're focused on up-skilling." University College of the North (UCN) has two main campuses, in The Pas (above) and Thompson, as well as 12 regional centres. PHOTOS COURTESY OF UCN

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