A small boat, with three gulls circling around it, heading towards the viewer

North Island College offering free course for entry level marine employment

Editor’s note: This is an opportunity for Cortes, Quadra and other Discovery Islanders.

North Island College is offering a free 20-day course for people who are unemployed, partially employed or precariously employed and wish to become deckhands, operate tourism related vessels or take the first step towards obtaining certification as tugboat operators.

“You have to be at least 16 years old, a resident of BC and have a social insurance number – so be a permanent resident of Canada. You must be ready to train. If you are unemployed,  if you’re a high school student, if you’re in grade 11 or 12 and you’re 16 years of age, you can do this course. If you are only employed part-time because you can’t find full-time in what you want to do. If you are only employed seasonally or casually or precariously, you can apply to be part of this program,” explained Mary Ruth Snyder,  Executive Director of the Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce , which has partnered with the college on this project. 

Rubber crew boat Photo by USFWS on Pixnio

MRS: “This project is funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada BC Workforce Development Agreement, and we have 12 spots available.  It’s a fully funded training program, full-time Monday to Friday for 20 business days. They can start training July 13th.”

“If they do this 20 day program they would be able to right away find work as deckhands. They can operate crew boats up to I think 12 or 16 seats, tourism related vessels, or aquaculture.”

“This sets them up to do the next course,  a short course being offered in the Fall. That would get them right on to working on tugboats. right now there are a number of tugboat operators that  want to  retire, but they can’t because there is nobody to take their place.”

CC: Exactly what will the people who take this program receive?  

They will have: 

  • Marine Basic First Aid*
  • SVOP — Small Vessel Operator Proficiency
  • WHMIS — Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System
  • Job Ready — Research potential employment, Resume prep & distribution
  • ROC-MC* — Restricted Operator Certificate-Maritime Commercial
  • DVS* — Domestic Vessel Safety
  • FoodSafe”

“The three courses that are starred (*) in our news release are ‘the Marine Basic First Aid,’  Registered Operator Certificate for Marine, commercial’ and ‘Domestic Vessel Safety.’ These three courses can be applied toward the next level, which is the Master Limited, less than 60 tons, for tugboat operators,  being offered in the Fall.”

“There are about a million jobs available right now across Canada and here on the West Coast, a number of them are in the marine industry. As was demonstrated, I believe yesterday or the day before when BC Ferries had to cancel two sailings on the main run between Schwartz Bay and Tsawassan. It’s a huge issue, not just for BC Ferries, but for tugboat operators for the Aqua Marine companies,  there are not enough trained individuals to work on boats. And we live on the coast and there is a lot of work to be done on the coast in boats.”

“Upon completion of this 20 day fully funded program, individuals will be able to immediately get work as deck hands, operating crew boats, tourism related vessels or aquaculture. It would also be a first step  into BC Ferries.” 

CC: Do you happen to know how long the training period is for BC ferries? 

MRS:  “I do not, but call them and they will be able to tell you.”

“We’ve spoken to Marine Link Transportation, aquaculture companies and BC Ferries, every single one of them who have anything to do with marine on the coast is desperate for individuals with at least this type of training.”

“This is 20 days, it’s fully funded and these are well paid jobs.” 

“All you have to do is send an email to myself at executivedirector@campbellriverchamber.ca or give me a call at (250) 287-4636 and then I will send you the link for you to register.”

CC: Is there anything you would like to add? 

MRS: “We are incredibly grateful to the Government of Canada through the Canada BC Workforce Development Agreement that they understand how desperately the coastal communities in Canada need highly trained individuals to operate marine vessels safely. This is what that program does.”

“I’d also like to thank North Island College. They have been absolutely wonderful to work with on the development of this program. They are experts in developing programs and they offer marine programs themselves. They’ll be offering this course in the Fall that is going to come right after this one. We are so thankful that we have such an amazing post-secondary education facility in the North Island. They are to be commended for all of their innovation that they are offering in putting together this program and creating it in a 20 day session.”

Top image credit: When the boat comes in  Photo by derek braithwaite on Unsplash 

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