From L-R are: (front) Willie Cowie, Melissa Gilbert, Anne Batisse, Elder Marie Boucher, Jason Batise, Linda Collins and James Reed,
(second row) Joe Wojtus, Tom Wadey, Ray Durham, Rene Boucher, Jason Batisse, Daniel Denomme, Patrick Denomme, Paul Collins, Joe Evans and Peter Barber. 

Photo credit:  Xavier Kataquapit

Xavier Kataquapit
The Timmins Daily Press
Sat May 29 2010

A partnership with Northgate Minerals Corp. has borne fruit for some young Matachewan First Nation members.

Five graduates of the Underground Miner Training from the First Nation will head for work at the Young Davidson Mine.

The announcement of their employment made at a graduation ceremony held at Matachewan First Nation Thursday.

This is the first group of a partnership program under the Matachewan Aboriginal Access to Mine Jobs Training Strategy (MAATS) where trainees on graduation were hired by the Young Davidson mine. It is also the first time the mine has hired a female underground miner.

"This is one of my dreams come true actually, as I have wanted to work in a mine since I was about 12 years old," said 18-year-old Melissa Gilbert of Matachewan First Nation.

"People didn't think girls did things like this. I am really grateful to the leadership of Matachewan First Nation and Northgate Minerals for giving me this opportunity. I am so proud to be the first underground female miner to be working at Northgate."

The other four graduates are Jason Batisse, Rene Boucher, Daniel Denomme and Patrick Denomme, all Matachewan First Nation members.

Elder Marie Boucher, who did the opening prayer was happy to see her grandson Rene among the graduates.

The program provided hands-on experience by trainer Willie Cowie of Matachewan First Nation, Northgate Minerals management and Dumas contracting personnel.

The graduates participated in this mining career program in preparation for employment at the Young Davidson Mine. The new mining development will provide jobs for 600 people during the two-year construction period and long-term employment for 275 individuals over the 15-year life of the mine. The company is aiming to commission the Young Davidson mine and start gold production in 2012.

During mine development, the company worked closely with the various surrounding communities and in July 2009 signed an Impact and Benefits Agreement (IBA) with Matachewan First Nation, a member community of Wabun Tribal Council.

Co-operation and partnership involving Northgate, Wabun First Nations, the federal and provincial government provided a multimillion dollar training program for Aboriginal people.

Anne Batisse, MAATS executive director, said "I am so proud of all of graduates today and I thank the management at Northgate Minerals, our chief and council, Human Resources Skills Development Canada, our trainer and Wabun Tribal Council for making this day possible.

"Everyone put out a big effort and in particular Melissa Gilbert who was determined from the start to succeed in this program."

Tom Wadey, Project Manager/Mining with Northgate Minerals Corp., said, "This was a very positive experience for these young graduates and everyone involved. This mine will have a long life and we are hoping that these graduates will excel and move up the ladder and who knows maybe one of them will have my job some day."

Jason Batise, chairman of the MAATS and representative of Wabun Tribal Council, has been following the development of partnerships between Matachewan First Nation and Northgate Minerals from the very beginning of the mine development.

"On behalf of the board of directors of MAATS, I want to congratulate all of our Matachewan First Nation graduates here today," Batise said. "In my 20 years in being involved in all kinds of training programs, this is the first time ever that I see our trainees graduating and going right into employment. This is just the tip of the iceberg and I look forward to watching many more of our young people being trained and finding employment at the local mine in the future."

The event, which was organized by Gail Brubacher, Northgate's First Nation partnership co-ordinator, featured retired school teacher James Reed as a guest speaker. Reed is well known by the Matachewan First Nation membership as he taught elementary school aged children for decades.

Paul Collins, IBA co-ordinator for Matachewan First Nation was on hand to welcome everyone to the graduation. He was there as a representative of Chief Richard Wincikaby who could not attend the event.

The Underground Miner Training was part of MAATS, a $4-million initiative that was announced on Feb. 13, 2009 by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada as a three-year partnership strategy. The strategy is supported primarily by HRSDC under the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership program.

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