In praise of higher education
Classes commence at Niagara College for Canada’s first cannabis production program
The seeds have been planted for the future growth of what is expected to be a multibilliondollar industry.
At Niagara College’s Niagaraon-the-Lake campus Wednesday, its commercial cannabis production graduate certificate program was unveiled to more than a hundred guests, celebrating the first college or university curriculum of its kind in Canada.
There are 24 students enrolled for the inaugural year, many in their early 20s — but also some such as John Skilnyk, a former online course developer at University of Yukon and chief administrative officer of the City of Dawson, a municipality with a population of under 1,400.
As his family planned to move to Niagara, the Hamilton native began looking for employment opportunities, but decided to test his green thumb by applying for the college’s program.
“I wanted to shift gears from the typical office environment and gain some practical handson skills,” said Skilnyk.
Knowledgeable of the area through growing up only an hour away and his wife being from St. Catharines originally, he is looking forward to starting his new career in a field that is anticipated to harvest plenty of prosperity.
“The cannabis industry is only in its infancy and is growing exponentially, especially in the Niagara region,” he said.
Connor Deane, a 21-year-old from London, Ont., who graduated from Fanshawe College with a diploma in horticulture technology, is also eager to get started on a new path that stems from his previous education.
“I came to expand my knowledge and focus on one thing,” he said. “We’re the pioneers of it and it’s cool to be at the forefront.”
Carson Otto, from Burlington, also remarked how much times have changed since he was in
high school only a few years ago — when teachers would not approve of their students talking about marijuana in the classroom.
“If you told them you wanted to grow weed for the government, they would have laughed at you,” he said.
Program co-ordinator Bill MacDonald said the two dozen students he will guide this year have a “whole gambit” of experience.
“Some are brand new, others have worked in the industry for a while,” he said.
Students will be trained in cultivation and other methods involved with cannabis production but will also learn about the complexities in Health Canada’s strict and complex regulatory framework that governs the industry.
Since the idea for the program was just a small bud three years ago, until now when it has crowned to become so much more, there has been very little criticism from people against it. MacDonald attributes this to the position that the course will develop many professionals in the coming years.
“The opposition was basically non-existent,” he said.
Jeff Ryan, vice-president of government and stakeholder relations with Canopy Growth, the company that owns Tweed Farms in Niagara-on-the-Lake and its 90,000-square-metre production space, said the college program will create a healthy stock of workers for many years to come.
More than 300 applicants came forward for the one-year program, which has a prerequisite of a diploma or degree in the areas of horticulture, greenhouse technology, agricultural sciences, plant sciences, biology or a related discipline.
The college said no cannabis will be consumed as part of the program, and that it will be grown, managed and stored in a secure facility located near the existing teaching greenhouse.