Boreal builds its future with trades.

Waiting on no one, College Boreal and its affiliated secondary school boards are taking a lead role in the drive for more French-language trades training.

Daniel Giroux, acting dean of Trades and Technology at the college, organized a two-day symposium in October, focused on generating a single action plan for promoting trades as a career option for francophone students and expanding the number of spots in French-based trades courses.

"It's very positive," a beaming Giroux said outside the symposium, held at the college. "It's the first time everyone has had a common goal. It's something that hasn't been addressed at all levels in industry or politically."

He says it was unprecedented and very powerful to have the heads of all nine francophone school boards (over 20 school board reps in total) Boreal is affiliated with in the same room at the same time, for any reason.

The concept that more programs need to be offered in French is not new, he says, but having one strategy between all stakeholders is.

The two-day symposium was well attended by school board reps, industry reps and staff from all of Boreal's satellite operations.

One of two Francophone colleges in Ontario (the other is in Ottawa), Boreal is associated with the lion's share of the province's 12 French school boards.

The college has satellite campuses or access centres in Kapuskasing, Hearst, Timmins, New Liskeard, Windsor, North Bay, Espanola, Toronto, Wawa, London, Chapleau, London, Blind River, Elliot Lake, Hamilton, Barrie, Longlac, Dubreilville, Noelville and Thunder Bay.

It doesn't all happen on paper. For these programs to grow, the schools need new equipment relevant to the workplaces students will be moving in to, and the space to house it all.

"There is a huge oportunity for us," explains Giroux. "The industry is in crisis right now."

He says succession planning is the buzz term of the day as aging executives and tradespeople alike approach retirement age.

If the qualified trainers are leaving, there will be no one left to take on the apprentices coming up through the education system, he says.

"We need to valorize jobs in the trades and show success stories of young people who studied in the trades," says Conseil scolaire de district Franco-Nord superintendent Gisele Landriault. "As school boards, we must present to our young students all the career possibilities they have access to."

Companies are increasingly looking for "well-rounded" tradespeople with expertise in more than one field.

A mechanic today may have to be knowledgeable in electricity, electronics and welding, just to name a few areas.

"Employers are looking for the complete package."

The strongest link in the chain is between industry and the post-secondary sector, Giroux says, and there is also a very strong link between the college and French high schools in Ontario. That's why Boreal is taking a lead role in the initiative. Their importance is amplified by the fact that with their many satellite campuses, the school can reach about 85 per cent of Ontario's population.

Improving French-language trades training in the province creates a win-win situation for Boreal, the high schools and the government, he says. With more trades offered at French high schools, fewer students will have to transfer to primarily English schools to get the training they want. For the student, that means being able to complete their education in full in their mother tongue. For Boreal, it means more enrolment in their trades programs as those students aren't forced to attend an English-language college as a continuation of the high school experience.

"College Boreal has a role to regroup and work with people in the same area and it is with the organization of forums like these that we are fulfilling this role," says Boreal president Gisele Chretien.

"Together, we can create partnerships and programs adapted for all students, not only those who are good with their hands," says Jean-Luc Bernard, director of education for the Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest. "It is an excellent initiative and, in the future, we should regroup all the Frenchlanguage school boards and the two French colleges to work on this problem."

www.borealc.on.ca

By CRAIG GILBERT

Northern Ontario Business