Support Offered To Aboriginal Trades Students

Support Offered To Aboriginal Trades Students

Thursday, August 17, 2006 at 13:26

A new partnership between the Crown Investments Corporation and the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology is expected to benefit Aboriginal students studying trades in the province.

The CIC will provide $103,000 to fund a one-year pilot project at SIAST’s Kelsey campus in Saskatoon.

The project, titled “The Aboriginal Success in Trades and Technologies Program”, is designed to offer a variety of tools to Aboriginal students through tutoring, child care, career planning and life skills training.

SIAST President and CEO Dr. Bob McCulloch says it will help more Aboriginal students complete trades training by addressing some of their needs in the early days of their education, which he says can be almost overwhelming.

More than 18 per cent of SIAST students are of Aboriginal ancestry.

The CIC has also announced an extra $145,000 will be given annually to the University of Regina and the First Nations University of Canada over the next three years for Aboriginal recruitment initiatives.

The new funding is in addition to the $2.5 million the CIC committed to the U of R and FNUC last December for the retention and recruitment of Aboriginal students.