The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The coordinator of a job placement program for aboriginal students wants to bring the initiative to Flin Flon. Ron Castel, who oversees the Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Internship Program, hopes to get local schools involved as soon as possible. "The whole purpose of the program is to give students a snapshot of the working world so that they take their education more seriously," he said yesterday as he manned a booth at the Career Symposium at the Creighton Sportex. The internship program involves students working for an employer for a set period of weeks, during which time he or she gains work experience and insight into a particular occupation. Students are paid for their work, and Manitoba Education, Training and Youth provides participating employers with wage subsidies. "We have a really high success rate with the program," said Castel. The program currently runs in The Pas, OCN, Thompson, Dauphin, Brandon, Selkirk and Winnipeg. A total of 58 students participated across the province last year. The students often choose to enter the occupation in which they were placed, said Castel, who is based in Winnipeg. In order for the program to operate in Flin Flon, Castel said the school division and his executive committee would have to give the go-ahead. He said he usually spends the first semester of each school year promoting the program and garnering interest from employers, school divisions and students. The Aboriginal Youth Internship Program began in 1998 in partnership with the Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Career Awareness Committee, Manitoba Education and Training, the University of Manitoba and the Department of Agriculture.
