JANUARY 2016
H
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that, “so many incredibly talented appren-
tices have come to UA Local 67 as a di-
rect result of pre-apprenticeship training.”
Because the skills taught at the Techni-
cal Trades Academy are transferrable be-
tween trades, employment rates for stu-
dents, upon completion of their training, is
85 percent.
“It was hard to get people from the re-
serves in the start,” recalls Harper. Since
he knew people living in the nearby Six Na-
tions of the Grand River Native Reserve,
he would go door to door, asking if any-
one would sign up for pre-apprenticeships.
Now, the Technical Trades Academy gets
help from First Nations community part-
ners to recruit talent, so that the training
institution can focus on providing top-notch
education.
All teachers who instruct at the Technical
Trades Academy are expected to be cer-
tified by the Ontario College of Teachers
or have equivalent teaching experience.
Some teachers have even gone back to
university to gain OCT certification.
As a former teacher at the community col-
lege level, he and his team at Technical
