Program prepares First Nations members to battle wildfires
PROGRAM PROVIDES EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR FIRST NATIONS MEMBERS
First Nations in southwest Alberta have been given an opportunity to become wildland firefighters with a program formed in partnership with SAAMIS and Lethbridge College.
The program has been designed specifically for First Nations members in southwestern Alberta and is made possible by funding from Alberta Labour and Community Futures Treaty 7.
The training prepares students for high-quality seasonal employment as part of wildfire crews. The program includes Standard First Aid, chainsaw training and core Wildfire Crew Member Training.
During a media event on Monday, Katie-Jo Rabbit, manager of SAAMIS employment, said the program is an important way to provide employment opportunities to members of the First Nations.
“Thirty per cent of the unemployment rate is aboriginal people,” she said. “In order to create more career opportunities, SAAMIS hosts programs like this to ensure our clientele are competitive for the labour market.”
SAAMIS also provides services such as job boards and weekly workshops in order to ensure clientele are ready for career-type positions. Rabbit said a large number of First Nations workers look to firefighting as a career.
“It’s definitely important for First Nations people to be involved in these types of positions,” she said. “They feel like they are promoting that holistic aspect to these positions. We definitely support that.”
This is the first time the program has been offered in Lethbridge.
‘We’re bringing the training to the community, which is an advantage for the students,” said Troy O’Connor, lead instructor for the Wildfire Training program at Hinton Training Centre for the Province of Alberta. “We’d like to give them every advantage possible to be successful.
“We want to deliver competent firefighters to the fire line as the overall provincial objective.”
Rob Fryer is an instructor with the program and said there has been significant interest from First Nations.
“There is a lot of interest from the First Nations community in the sense that they want to feel a part of the community with regards to saving the community,” he said. “A lot of them feel that being part of the provincial plan is important to helping communities.”
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