The province has committed nearly $2 million towards Indigenous job training and skilled trades development for two projects in northwestern Ontario.

Supercom Industries received $1.5 million for training and “upskilling” its new and current 172 employees in heavy equipment operation, mechanical harvesting, commercial truck driving, tower assembly and construction.

The money is coming through SkillsAdvance Ontario, a provincial project dedicated to workforce development is key sectors such as steel and aluminum, manufacturing, logistics, tourism and hospitality and forestry.

Supercom is working with Nextbridge Infrastructure on constructing the 450-kilometre-long East-West Tie transmission line between Wawa and Thunder Bay.

The organization is a contracting and training joint venture run by six First Nation communities on the north shore of Lake Superior across whose traditional land the power line project will cross.

It consists of the First Nation communities of Fort William, Red Rock, Pays Plat, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, Pic Mobert, and Michipicoten First Nations.

Nextbridge Infrastructure is a project-specific coalition of NextEra Energy Canada, Enbridge and OMERS Infrastructure established to build the East-West Tie.

Energy projects like the East-West Tie are being looked up as helping to develop a home-grown skilled labour pool in northwestern Ontario for future regional infrastructure projects.

This SkillsAdvance Ontario project will offer multiple training opportunities to job seekers, and re-skilling chances to the incumbent workers, consequently changing their and their families’ lives, and overall positively impacting the economy and communities’ well-being in Northern Ontario,” said Cris Serban, Supercom president-CEO, in a statement.

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