Hay River’s Western Arctic Marine Training Centre is receiving more than $930,000 in federal funding to expand its simulator training.
The money, announced on Friday last week by NWT MP Rebecca Alty, will allow the centre to purchase new simulators and offer additional Transport Canada-certified courses.
The centre, founded in 2023, trains northerners for careers in marine transportation. Its bridge watch rating program is offered twice a year and is fully funded for northerners as well as Indigenous people and women from across Canada.
Graduates earn certificates recognised by Transport Canada that allow them to begin working on vessels. Some have gone on to join the Canadian Coast Guard.
The centre’s executive director, John Vandenberg, said the funding will help create “a pathway to certification for individuals, eliminating costly travel to other parts of the country.”
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Alty, who is the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, said many marine professionals must travel south for certification, often facing long wait times and significant costs.
“This project will create opportunities for northerners to pursue careers in marine transportation closer to home,” she was quoted as saying in a news release.
The centre has been expanding its reach. Last December, it celebrated nine graduates at its Hay River campus, and in January it launched its first bridge watch rating program in Inuvik. It also offers shorter courses in communities across the NWT and in northern Alberta and Manitoba.
Last year, Vandenberg said the centre was also developing an officer training program to help graduates eventually become mates and captains.
