“I was at Alberta Municipalities last week and this came up over and over and over again: How do we keep our children and youth in our communities?”
Published Oct 03, 2023 • 2 minute read
The Syncrude Technology Centre building on the Keyano College Clearwater campus in Fort McMurray Alta. on Sunday, April 19, 2020. Photo by Laura Beamish /Postmedia
The Alberta government on Monday announced it’s investing $9.2 million into maintenance and program expansions at Keyano College, an effort that may help keep more of Fort McMurray’s youth in the northern city.
The funding is needed to train workers in high-demand fields, but provincial and community leaders hope similar investments across rural Alberta will encourage young people to learn and work in their home communities.
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“I was at Alberta Municipalities last week and this came up over and over and over again: How do we keep our children and youth in our communities?” said Rajan Sawhney, Alberta’s minister of advanced education, at a Monday press conference at Keyano College. “Learning close to home is an enormous benefit to local communities and the economy right across Alberta.”
The $9.2 million is part of a $50-million program that includes Athabasca University, Northern Lakes College and Portage College. Sawhney visited Keyano on Monday to announce the funding.
About $6.9 million is going towards replacing HVAC units at Keyano. Apprenticeship programs are getting $1.2 million in support. The college’s nursing and primary care paramedic programs will get 93 new seats from $1.1 million in funding.
A separate $12.4 million program to create 2,000 new apprenticeship seats in Alberta will also include Keyano, said Sawhney.
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Don Scott, Keyano board chair, said encouraging young people to stay in the community is a common concern among employers and families. Scott served as advanced education minister under the late premier Jim Prentice. He is also a former councillor and mayor for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
“When I’ve been around the doors, I’m sure every other politician in this community can attest that’s it’s one of the big issues here,” said Scott in an interview. “They want their students to remain in Fort McMurray.”
College president, Jay Notay, said in an interview after the press conference there are roughly 2,500 students enrolled at the school, which is roughly what Keyano College had just before the COVID-19 pandemic. He is expecting 3,500 students in the near future.
He also estimates more than half of youth graduating high school in upcoming years will leave Fort McMurray. Notay says this trend was ongoing long before the pandemic or the 2016 Horse River Wildfire.
“This is something that is a serious concern of ours,” said Notay.
The college has responded by adding or modifying 18 programs as part of what Notay calls “growth mode.” There are also joint programs with universities. Sawhney said she has been meeting with Notay and the college’s board of directors to discuss funding for other programs at Keyano.
“What I’m hearing today is a desire that students have an option here in Fort McMurray,” said Sawhney in an interview. “There’s a rising demand and industry is interested in having more programming as well.”
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