PM announces support for Northern Innovation in Mining

WHITEHORSE - Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced support for the creation of a new Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining (CNIM) at Yukon College, which will create jobs and stimulate economic growth throughout the region.  The Centre will help Northerners acquire the skills they need to fill local jobs in the rapidly growing mining and exploration sectors, while conducting applied research and enhancing Yukon’s attractiveness for mining investment. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) and Minister for the Arctic Council, Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Senator Daniel Lang and Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon.

“Our Government is taking action to create the right conditions for continued growth in the Northern mining sector, and to ensure that Northerners derive maximum benefit from the abundant natural resources in their territories,” said Prime Minister Harper. “Our Government’s investment in this new Centre will address critical skills shortages facing the region, while providing the citizens of Yukon and the North with better access to the education and training that can lead to high quality jobs.”

CNIM will be a one stop state-of-the-art education, training and research facility for people looking to begin a career in the mining industry as well as for those who want to improve their skills. Through the Centre, thousands of Yukoners will have access to accredited career training opportunities, helping provide a solution to current and future skilled labour shortages in the territory.

CNIM will also conduct applied research and development to address northern specific challenges in order to grow and improve the competitiveness of Yukon’s mining sector.

In addition to creating an estimated 40 construction jobs and six full-time and part-time jobs, within its first five years CNIM is also expected to generate up to 520 trades, mining and apprenticeship graduates, plus 710 students completing shorter non-credit courses, who will provide much needed skilled labour for the North's rapidly expanding mining and exploration industries.

As committed to in Economic Action Plan 2013, the Government of Canada will contribute to the construction of CNIM at Yukon College’s Ayamdigut Campus in Whitehorse. The investment will also provide the means for a mobile trades school that will make training more accessible by delivering courses in smaller communities and at mine sites in Yukon. Construction of the new Centre is planned to begin in 2014, and is expected to be completed and operational by 2017.