New miners graduate
Five First Nation
graduates head for work
at Young Davidson Mine
By Xavier Kataquapit
Matachewan First Nation and Northgate Minerals Corp are leading the way with the announcement of five First Nation graduates from Underground Miner Training who were hosted at a ceremony in Matachewan First Nation on May 27. This is the first group of a partnership program under the Matachewan Aboriginal Access to Mine Jobs Training Strategy (MAATS) where trainees on graduation were hired by the Young Davidson mine. It is also the first time the mine has hired a female underground miner.
“This is one of my dreams come true actually, as I have wanted to work in a mine since I was about 12 years old. People didn’t think girls did things like this. I am really grateful to the leadership of Matachewan First Nation and Northgate Minerals for giving me this opportunity. I am so proud to be the first underground female miner to be working at Northgate,” said 18 year old Melissa Gilbert, of Matachewan First Nation.
Have your cake and eat it, too! That is what these five Matachewan First Nation graduates
experienced as they were hired by Northgate Minerals Corp. From L-R are: Jason Batisse,
Patrick Denomme, Daniel Denomme, Melissa Gilbert and Rene Boucher.
The five graduates included Gilbert, Jason Batisse, Rene Boucher, Daniel Denomme and Patrick Denomme, all Matachewan First Nation members. Elder Marie Boucher, who did the opening prayer was happy to see her grandson Rene among the graduates.
“I am so proud of all of graduates today and I thank the management at Northgate Minerals, our Chief and Council, Human Resources Skills Development Canada, our trainer and Wabun Tribal Council for making this day possible. Everyone put out a big effort and in particular Melissa Gilbert who was determined from the start to succeed in this program,” said Anne Batisse, Executive Director of MAATS.
The success of the graduates was based on a program that featured hands on training by trainer Willie Cowie, of Matachewan First Nation, Northgate Minerals management and Dumas contracting personnel.
(Left) A happy day for mining and First Nations in honour of Matachewan FN graduates.
From L-R are: (front) Willie Cowie, Mining Trainer; Melissa Gilbert, Graduate; Anne Batisse, Executive Director, MAATS; Elder Marie Boucher, Jason Batise, MAATS Board Chair / Wabun Tribal Council; Councillor Linda Collins, Matachewan FN and James Reed, Guest Speaker. In second row L-R are: Joe Wojtus, Northgate Minerals Corp; Tom Wadey, Northgate Minerals Corp; Ray Durham, Northgate Minerals Corp; Rene Boucher, Graduate; Jason Batisse, Graduate; Daniel Denomme, Graduate; Patrick Denomme, Graduate; Paul Collins, IBA Coordinator, Matachewan FN; Joe Evans, Dumas Contracting and Peter Barber, Dumas Contracting.
“This was a very positive experience for these young graduates and everyone involved. This mine will have a long life and we are hoping that these graduates will excel and move up the ladder and who knows maybe one of them will have my job some day,” said Tom Wadey, Project Manager / Mining, Northgate Minerals Corp
Jason Batise, Chairman of the MAATS and representative of Wabun Tribal Council has been following the development of partnerships between Matachewan First Nation and Northgate Minerals Corp from the very beginning of the mine development.
“On behalf of the board of directors of MAATS, I want to congratulate all of our Matachewan First Nation graduates here today. In my 20 years in being involved in all kinds of training programs, this is the first time ever that I see our trainees graduating and going right into employment. This is just the tip of the iceberg and I look forward to watching many more of our young people being trained and finding employment at the local mine in the future,” said Batise.
(Right) First female undergrounds miner at Young Davidson Mine in Matachewan is Melissa Gilbert (centre) seen here receiving her graduation certificate from Jason Batise (right) MAATS Board Chair / Wabun Tribal Council and Anne Batisse, Executive Director of Matachewan Aboriginal Access to Mine Jobs Training Strategy (MAATS).
The event which was organized by Gail Brubacher First Nation Partnership Coordinator, Northgate Minerals Corp, featured retired school teacher James Reed as guest speaker. Reed is well known by the Matachewan First Nation membership as he taught grades three, four and five for decades.
Paul Collins, Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) Coordinator, Matachewan First Nation was on hand to welcome everyone to the graduation as a representative of Chief Richard Wincikaby who could not attend the event.
The successful graduates participated in this mining career program in preparation for employment at the Young Davidson Mine. The new mining development will provide jobs for 600 people during the two year construction period and long term employment for 275 individuals over the 15 year life of the mine. The company is aiming to commission the Young Davidson mine and start gold production in 2012.
During mine development, the company worked closely with the various surrounding communities and in July 2009 signed an Impact and Benefits Agreement (IBA) with Matachewan First Nation, a member community of Wabun Tribal Council. Cooperation and partnership between Northgate, Wabun First Nations, the federal and provincial government has also provided a multi million dollar training program for Aboriginal people.
The Underground Miner Training was part of MAATS a four million dollar initiative that was announced on February 13, 2009 by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) as a three year partnership strategy. The strategy is supported primarily by HRSDC under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership (ASEP) program.