With just two weeks of lead-time, Lethbridge College’s Corporate and Continuing Education (CCE) department was recently able to complete its first-ever specialized training session in the Northwest Territories.
Lethbridge-based Southwest Design and Construction Ltd., along with its partner companies Midwest Design and Construction Ltd. and Nappaq Design and Construction Ltd., were preparing for a construction project in Inuvik, N.W.T. Agreements in place with the local Gwich’in Tribal Council and Inuvialuit Development Corporation mandated that, as part of the project, the company also had to include pre-employment Construction Basics training for 14 local, Aboriginal workers on July 7 and 8. Given the tight timelines and specialized training, Lethbridge College was identified as the institution best-positioned to deliver the instruction.
“We generally travel where we need to in southern Alberta to deliver training, but have never had an opportunity like this in the Northwest Territories, so we jumped on it,” says John Jacobson, Director of Corporate and Continuing Education at Lethbridge College. “We were very pleased with how this project worked out and the cooperation by all partners to make it happen.”
Due to the quick turn-around time and short notice, Lethbridge College staff were not available to commit to the trip, so Dell Mathews, a prominent Lethbridge-based contractor, was hired to deliver the program. CCE provided Mathews with some pre-developed modules and relied on his expertise from providing training for the Professional Home Builders Institute. Mathews had just days to prepare for the training, and after arriving in the land of the midnight sun, he found an engaged group of students in Inuvik.
“I have a passion for training, so I’m very glad I had the chance to go there and experience what felt like a different world,” says Mathews. “Some other contractors up there provide just a most-basic level of training, so the students were appreciative of the time and resources we committed to make sure they learned skills that they can take with them and use in the future.”
The college’s Corporate and Continuing Education provides training to a variety of sectors, and offers both pre-developed and custom courses to meet the needs of their clients.
“This experience demonstrates that we are able to develop and deliver training solutions to meet the needs of our customers quickly, professionally and anywhere,” says Jacobson. “We have a large pool of instructors to draw from with a wide-range of expertise. Working closely with our industry partners allows us to deliver training that is beneficial to businesses in southern Alberta and beyond.”