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.
A Northern Manitoba Mining Academy policy is raising questions about educational equality. When the publicly funded college launches its first mining simulation course on Monday, only students hand-picked by Hudbay will be enrolled. Acting director Rob Penner said the college has a contract with Hudbay whereby the company covers the cost of the training course. Penner said the college does not have the budget to offer this particular course to students from the general public, so cost-recovery arrangements with industry are necessary. 'We haven't got enough resources that we can just, say, throw the doors open and (enroll) students and (say), 'We'll give you certificates and hope you can go out there and get work,'' Penner said. Penner said if a company other than Hudbay has a training need and wants to fund a mining simulation course, the college is willing to do so. 'It's not exclusive to Hudbay in any way,' said Penner. While Hudbay is picking up the tab for the multi-week course, the training will rely on a high-tech computer simulator purchased by the federal and provincial governments for roughly $850,000. Both levels of government touted the simulator as a phenomenal investment in the region, with no mention that its use would hinge on private companies funding courses for students of their choosing, at least initially. The training will also take place in a public college that, combined with the University College of the North regional centre next door, cost about $4.3 million to build. That said, the type of deal between the college and Hudbay, known as contract training, is both common and sanctioned by the Manitoba government. Provincial education spokesperson Naline Rampersad said contract training 'generates revenues for the institutions and provides companies with on-demand training opportunities.' 'It is crucial to the success of the mining sector in Manitoba that workers have access to training to upgrade their skills and adapt to new technologies to support the growing mining sector,' added Rampersad. But Dennis Hydamaka, a local retiree who used to work in mining, doesn't see how the college's arrangement with Hudbay is just. 'If they're running a mining college that's publicly funded, then (all courses) should be open to the public,' Hydamaka said, 'and people who take the course then can apply to Hudbay or to wherever they want to apply.' Another concerned citizen, Blair Sapergia, agreed that public learning institutes should not have these sorts of deals with private industry. See 'Why' on pg. Continued from pg. Sapergia said 'it's not fair at all' that the training course is closed to students who may want to enroll from outside of Hudbay. 'If it's going to be an industry college and all it's going to do is train guys for industry, then how come industry didn't build it?' Sapergia asked rhetorically. 'Why did I spend my tax dollars building it?' Other residents like Greg East take a different view. East said the students chosen by Hudbay are the ones who will get jobs at the company. 'I don't have a problem with the system the way it's working right now,' East said. Brad Lantz, vice-president in charge of Hudbay's Manitoba operations, said the course will combine the expertise of Hudbay and the college. This will create 'a quality training experience and allow the college to have a training package that can be used for future groups,' Lantz said. 'This should be seen as a win-win model as Hudbay enhances the skills of its employees or potential employees, while this is a revenue generator and a resource creator for the college for future programs.' Lantz said Hudbay believes the college should not make contract training its primary goal but that this option should be available. For his part, Penner said miner training programs in other jurisdictions have put out widespread calls for students only to find that some graduates were not finding jobs. 'Here it's the other way around in the sense that there's a job and (Hudbay has) already identified you for that job, now you need that training,' Penner said. 'The training is available here (at the college).' Yet Penner does not dismiss as out of hand criticism of contract training at the college. 'It is a really good complaint from people because that does look exclusionary,' Penner said. 'But the flip side of it is, if I charge somebody an outrageous amount of tuition and got them trained as a miner, they may not get hired anywhere.' Speaking earlier this week, Penner wasn't sure how many Hudbay students would be arriving for the mining simulation course, saying it could be as many as a dozen. It is the only course at the college restricted to students chosen by industry. The other courses are open to all applicants, though space limitations may mean some prospective students are turned away.
