Forest industry offers skills award for Aboriginal youth: Deadline Oct. 31

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is opening up nominations until October 31st for its annual Skills Award for Aboriginal Youth, as part of its continuing effort to encourage more Aboriginal workers to consider a career in the forest sector.

The award will honour a First Nations, Metis or Inuit individual with strong academic standing who is committed to their field of study and to a job in the forest sector. The $2,500 award is targeted at youth from 18 to 30 who are now enrolled in a post-secondary program.

“Aboriginal communities and the forest products industry have a long history together,” says David Lindsay, President and CEO of FPAC. “It is vitally important for the forest sector to reach out to our neighbours and partners in rural forest communities, including Aboriginal youth.”

14-FPAC photoUnder Vision2020, FPAC has set the ambitious “people” goal of refreshing the workforce with an additional 60,000 workers by the end of the decade.  This includes a desire to hire more Aboriginals, as well as more women and new Canadians.  The other Vision2020 goals are to increase economic activity by $20 billion through new products and markets and to further enhance the sector’s environmental performance by another 35%.

This is the third year that FPAC will hand out this award.  The previous award winners were Baillie Redfern, an M.Sc graduate student studying Genome Science and Technology at the University of British Columbia, and Shayna Mason, a student in the Forestry Program at the University of Alberta.

Nominations for the annual Skills Award for Aboriginal Youth will be open until October 31, 2014. Information on how to apply can be found at fpac.ca/youthaward.

 

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