Different opportunities on the horizon

We are in the age of opportunity. It seems like a strange thing to be saying in this new year, but I believe it to be true. The “Idle no more” protest that has sprung up across Canada has more people talking about the differences between First Nations peoples and non aboriginal people of Canada.
As a parent, I realized that education was going to be the road map to success for my two sons in what ever their chosen profession was to become. I believe that it is a road map that most parents have chosen for their sons and daughters. I realized that the chance that they would remain or return to Fort Frances following their education was minimal. I think that they realized that too, but both seemed to hope that they might find careers that would keep them in the region.
I suspect that less than 1/10th of 1% of all careers in the world can be found in the Rainy River District and maybe only 1% of all careers can be found in Northern Ontario. We may wish that to be different, but for our children to be successful and have the careers that they can enjoy and grow with, it is only possible if they leave the communities in which they are raised.
Remote first nations are also discovering that for their youth to be successful in the world, education equal to what is found in the towns and communities across Northern Ontario must also be found on those remote communities. They are also learning that as parents, they have to provide every encouragement for their children to remain in school and choose some post secondary training.
It is estimated that 10,000 jobs will be created across the north in the next decade within the mining industry. Most are highly skilled jobs and require training and education. With those jobs in the north, secondary jobs will be created in schools, hospitals, social services, and retail and service industries. Many will be jobs and careers that previously never existed in our communities.
As always, the road to those jobs is through education. And it become even more important that parents play a bigger role, keeping their children in school, demanding improved educational opportunities and playing a more active role in education
We do not know what will happen in the Resolute mill, but we are learning that coal fired electrical generating plants are being converted to renewable pellet plants and those pellet plants when constructed in Atikokan and Thunder Bay will creating new jobs and new employment in the woods.
One only has to look at Lakehead University and the Regional Health Science Centre and can be excited by the training of doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners and the growth of research in health care. Again that is providing more opportunities for our youth to remain within the region.
The opportunities for new jobs and careers are growing in Northwestern Ontario. But to take advantage of those opportunities, youth will have to migrate to the jobs and often commute to remote job sites. It may not be what we wish, but it is the reality. And as unfortunate as it seems, some communities in Northwestern Ontario will see populations decline. Others will follow the route of the Arbor-Vitae’s, Mine Centre’s and will almost totally disappear. Other centres will grow and families and children will be attracted to them for the opportunities that are found there.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher