Training Alberta's Indigenous People for Success in the Trades
Somerville Indigenous Trades Apprenticeship Award Recipients
In partnership with Trade Winds to Success, Robert B. Somerville Co. has established the Somerville Indigenous Trades Apprenticeship Award to demonstrate its dedication to improving the ability of Indigenous employment candidates to pursue a meaningful and sustainable career in the pipeline construction industry.
The scholarships are allocated to individuals who are First Nation, Métis or Inuit and have completed their pre-apprenticeship training through Trade Winds to Success.
Twelve awards of $500 have been allocated for 2022.
Curtis Kematch
Electrical Program Graduate 2020
“Trade Winds helped me connect with my spirituality and growth in the four aspects. This whole rounded approach to teaching and entering a trade helped me immensely; I realized the battle to keep balance and recognize my internal conflicts and healthy ways to gain teachings from them. I will forever be grateful to the Trade Winds program, the instructors, the counselors, all the beautiful souls involved in the program. Everyone and everything about the program breeds and promotes success. If a client believes in themselves, all goals are possible.
“I came here with the clothes on my back with nothing but hope of a dream in my head and heart. I gave my best and my all to the program and I know if every client does the same, their dreams will become a reality. I can say this with true confidence as I have been working as an apprentice since my graduation in my dream trade (electrical). The hard work and learning never ends and I am grateful to Trade Winds for believing in me and preparing me for my career.”
Dakota Bear
Electrical Program Graduate 2019
“This program has opened the door for not just
me but many other individuals in need of help
and guidance, people who come from troubled backgrounds, or have just had a hard start in life.
It allows them to seek a better path and allows individuals to get their foot in the door to open a way for them to have success in their life. It was reassuring and hard at first, adjusting to going back to a school-based program and the fundamental courses to achieve the trade that you wanted to pursue, but there are amazing staff guiding you, preparing you the whole way, cheering you on and making your days go by more smoothly.”
Dawn Rain
“When I came to Trade Winds, I was without a job, I was without a home, and I was only eating one good meal every other day, if I was lucky. But I was not defeated. I had some setbacks. But I did not stay back. I studied hard. I did my homework. When my car broke down, when my bike broke, even if I had to walk to school, I showed up. One of the most important things about life is showing up.
“As of this moment, I am no longer homeless, I am still a little hungry but I eat regularly now, and I am more than halfway to meeting my first-year apprenticeship hours. I am already registered in my next level of schooling. And I have consistently found employment that has kept me extremely busy these past 6 months.
“Today, utilizing the personal growth and training I received while at Trade Winds to Success, at Millwrights Local 1460, and at Pic Industrial, I am a proud registered Industrial Mechanic apprentice. And I am eternally grateful for all the life lessons, learning, and the hands-up that has brought me to this moment.”
Michelle Moosomin
“Reflecting on my time at Trade Winds and my years spent in the trades, it has taught me the importance of showing up and doing my part, the significance of my attitude and that I will get out of it exactly what I put into it. You get what you WORK for not what you WISH for.”
Trevor Daniels
“I was amazed by how much was offered at Trade Winds: they seek not only to provide the academic and job training you need but they also address self-empowerment and healing from past traumas. This was exactly the program I needed after having endured all I have to get here.
“From a system kid and homeless youth with addictions to a confident happily married man employed in the pipe trades, I could not be more hopeful for the future ahead!
“Either you’re getting better or you’re getting worse. Nothing stays the same forever.”
Tyler Carmichael
“I struggled with addiction for most of my adult life, as did my loved ones. My grandfather, who was and still is my biggest role model, was an alcoholic and my mother, who was my entire world, struggled with an opioid addiction after suffering from chronic pain and fibromyalgia for many years. Sadly, at the age of 18, I lost my estranged father to a heart attack and, 2 years later, I lost my mother to an opioid overdose which I witnessed firsthand. These traumatic events set the precedent for my addictive lifestyle, and I went down a long, hard road that didn’t seem to have an end in sight.
“I moved to Calgary to attend drug and alcohol treatment and I decided to make it my new home. As of today, I am 645 days clean and sober.
“For the first time in my life, I am employed full time, I have my own apartment and I have a plan for my life.
“All of these positive things couldn’t have been possible without Trade Winds to Success. Because of this program, I have the ability to provide for myself and my children. I am 6 months into my 1st year apprenticeship, and I can honestly say this program changed my life.”
“I will forever be grateful to the Trade Winds program, the instructors, the counselors, all the beautiful souls involved in the program. Everyone and everything about the program breeds and promotes success.”
— Curtis Kematch