By Kira Wronska Dorward | Nunavut News
The Nunavut Housing Corporation is striving for 3,000 new homes by 2030, and there’s another key objective working hand-in-hand.
“It’s a really important component of the 3000 strategy — this accelerated housing supply… to try to see 3000 homes built across the territory [costing] somewhere in the range of $2.5 billion-plus,” said Nunavut Housing Corporation (NHC) president Eiryn Devereaux. “That kind of opportunity doesn’t come around too often, and what’s of paramount importance is that… we don’t miss out on such a significant opportunity to try to rebalance the amount of imported labour.”
Nunavut has relied on a significant number of southern construction workers for decades.
“It’s not sustainable. It’s very costly,” Devereaux said. “We have to focus on increasing the number of skilled trades people from Nunavut, both Inuit and non-Inuit. That has to be a concentrated effort… we strategically have to undertake keen efforts to purposely recruit more and support more.”
To do so, the NHC has partnered with builders like NCC Development (NCCD), as well as the Qikiqtani Resources Institute (QRL) and the Qikiqtani Institute Limited (QIL) that have the capacity to deliver training — specifically by recruiting Inuit students and fostering them through pre-apprenticeship training.
Once the young Nunavummiut have received in-class training from QRL and QIL, then NCCD delivers on-the-job trades training.
The goal is for Inuit to comprise 30 per cent of the territory’s construction workforce by 2030.
“Now, it’s really about, how do we break down systemic barriers?” said Devereaux. “How do we create more pathways? How do we put more support services in [place]? Because we know the people are out there. We know there’s a ton of Nunavummiut and predominantly Inuit who are out there that are potential candidates to get into the construction trades workforce.
“We have so much construction on the horizon,” he added. “It’s really about how do you support them, get them interested and then see them succeed in that pathway to becoming skilled tradespeople.”
Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) is playing an important role in trying to recruit Nunavummiut in addition to supporting them in enrolling in the apprenticeship program.
“The biggest hurdle [in]… moving students into the apprenticeship program is the trades entrance exam,” Devereaux explained. “It’s a multiple choice exam that often becomes a very big challenge for those who maybe struggle with some reading and writing.”
Each apprenticeship course comprises a maximum of 10 students, who get nine weeks of classroom training and three weeks of on-site training at one of the seven active Nunavut 3000 job sites. Training is adjustable to individual student needs at the discretion of course instructors.
As of Nov. 13, nine of the courses are complete, and two more are underway in Ottawa and Qikiqtarjuaq. There will also be two more courses offered between January and March 2025 in Arctic Bay and Kugluktuk.
Rowena House, director of corporate services at NCCD, noted that 63 of 110 students have completed the courses so far. Seven in Ottawa and four in Qikiqtarjuaq are still in training, she added.
“Our priority is to hire the students we train — we want them to succeed,” she said.
Of those who have finished training, 32 have already been hired by NCCD and are at work in Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay, Baker Lake, Arctic Bay, Arviat, Resolute Bay and Pond Inlet. Another 36 students are on standby, slated to start work early in the 2025, once they finish their training and the building projects get underway in their communities.
Those who are able to work on construction projects in their own hometown have a much higher chance of success, as opposed to those travelling away from families for periods, Devereaux said.
“There’s a variety of things we’re trying to do to support and incentivize… the number of apprentices from Nunavut getting into the construction trade sector, and then supporting them over one, two, three, four, five years to the point they become certified as journeypersons, skilled labourers getting good paychecks,” he said.
Even those students who decide not to go further in their training will receive building trades helper certification from the Government of Nunavut, which supports either immediate employment in the trades, or a decision to pursue more training in the future.
“We are encouraged by the excitement for the program that we are offering,” said Robert Tookoome, who assisted NCCD with student recruitment. “These programs are a way to allow Inuit to find good jobs with our company as they progress in a career as a skilled trades worker.”
