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Mines recruiting Aboriginals, temporary foreign workers
VANCOUVER – The Canadian Press – Glen Paul still remembers his first week on the job at a copper-gold mine in British Columbia’s Interior — a position, he says, he landed three years ago as a “fluke” after taking a course to operate heavy machinery.
Paul says he didn’t start his training with a specific plan to end up in the mining industry, but there he was at the New Afton project near Kamloops, which at the time was still two years away from full production.
By his second day, he was standing underground for an orientation of the mine site.
“It was slightly overwhelming, because I’ve never been to a mine before, I’ve never seen one,” says Paul, 24, who grew up on the Kamloops Indian Band reserve and was connected to the job through the B.C. Aboriginal Mine Training Association.
“When I was younger, I really liked geology. … I’ve always been interested in machines, and after I got to see everything underground and to see some of the machines I had a possibility of working on, I was hooked.”