NDP MP of Nunavut Lori Idlout and her family visited the OETIO Morrisburg campus on Friday, touring the facility and attending the graduation of six Indigenous students.
Welcoming MP Idlout were Rick Kerr (OETIO Executive Director), Steven Schuman (IUOE, Canadian Government Affairs Director), Patrick Campbell (IUOE Canadian Director), Carla St. Louis (OETIO Director of Indigenous Affairs and Marketing), Rod McKenzie (OETIO Training Director Morrisburg), and Greg Runions (OETIO Training Supervisor Morrisburg).
The tour began at the training dome and practical fields of the campus, where MP Idlout watched the Heavy Equipment Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship students complete the field exercises. Here, she met Noah Ottokie, Ruben Dewar, Nolan Kuluguqtuq, Kassandra Akpaliapik, John Hayward, and Peah Natsiapik, the six graduating Indigenous students. With her grandson, Charles, MP Idlout got to experience being inside a CAT 725C articulated haul truck.
Following, MP Idlout was shown the on-campus dormitories and simulator room, where she got hands-on experience trying the heavy equipment simulator, before concluding her day by handing out certificates to the six Indigenous students and congratulating them for achieving this milestone.
The graduates are part of the Qikiqtani Skills and Training for Employment Partnership (Q-STEP) program. Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), in partnership with Bafflinland Iron Mines Corporation, the Government of Canada, the Government of Nunavut and the Kakivak Association, launched the Inuit employment and training project in 2017. The primary goal of Q-STEP is to increase Inuit employment in industries such as mining in the Qikiqtani Region.
