Program trains Aboriginal women in mining – Northern Ontario Business
Her official title is job coach, but in her role with the Temiskaming Native Women’s Support Group, Kelly Lamontagne can, on any given day, also serve as a social worker, mover, relationship guru, personal shopper, addictions counsellor, cheerleader and headhunter.
It’s all done in the name of helping Aboriginal women in Temiskaming and Timmins train for work in the mining industry through the two-year program Aboriginal Women in Mining.
“The group’s purpose is to help as many women as we can,” Lamontagne said. “If you’re making strong women who can make strong decisions and have a good career and have good self-esteem, you’re then making stronger children, stronger families, better men.”
Any woman with First Nations, Métis or Inuit heritage within the catchment area is eligible to apply to the program, although it’s targeted primarily to women who have faced serious life challenges such as trauma, poverty or addictions.
