Thompson's North Forge facility shifts focus to help youth build life skills, meet future job market needs

A facility in Thompson is helping youth train and develop their work skills in a bid to help keep them in the northern Manitoba city and fill its struggling labour market for years to come. 

When North Forge Technology Exchange — a Winnipeg-based non-profit that works as an "incubator" with tech startups across Canada — opened its Thompson facility in July 2022, the plan was for it to mimic the work the company was doing in southern Manitoba.

But after a few months, they realized there was a different and greater need in northern Manitoba.

"We started interacting with the [Thompson] community, and we realized that our community is in a dire need of pre-employment skills," said North Forge operations assistant Andria Stevens.

They heard from businesses across a range of industries who said they were struggling with finding qualified workers, Stevens said.

"Right now, the need is developing the skills," she said. "Living here and seeing the need of the community, you realize that you have to make that adaptation."

So the Thompson facility — dubbed "North Forge North" — decided to shift its focus to helping train students with skills applicable to the north and teaching them to start thinking outside the box.

It offers informal and free workshops, along with a drop-in space where young people can come and work on a range of projects.

Don "Shorty" Glenn, the operations manager at North Forge North, has been working hands-on with the kids. After just a few short months, he's already seeing the impact the programs are having, he said.

"It's also giving people a chance to train and learn new skills, to enrich our workforce or enrich their lives. That's more of a focus here in Thompson," he said. 

Stevens also said in some cases, there's an almost immediate change as students become more comfortable with the work they're doing.

"When you don't know something, you can easily build a fear to it," she said. 

The North Forge North fabrication lab, or "FabLab," features a range of equipment to help students find work in an area they are passionate about. That includes gear focused on robotics, 3D printing, woodworking, metal work, fabrication, vinyl cutting and even podcasting. 

Glenn said North Forge North's approach is to break everything down to core skills to help prepare kids not just for the workforce, but for life. 

"You've got your team building, you've got your safe work practices," on top of the "individual skills — the wiring side of things, the design, the fabrication and also the coding aspect," he said.

"It sounds big and fancy, but when you bring it all together, it's kind of like pre-employment training, and they get that teamwork feeling as well."

In some areas, the students also work on developing potential business models. 

The lab gives people the opportunity to learn in a low-risk environment, said Glenn. That kind of experimentation isn't always possible in the workforce, since it's too expensive or time-consuming, he said.

"We all learn through failure … so this is set up where it's OK to fail. That's how we learn and we get better."

Connecting with schools

North Forge North says it wants to get students involved from a young age to help foster relationships, and is working with the Frontier School Division and the Franco-Manitoban School Division to allow them to use the space for classes and work with the team. The lab is also looking to offer remote-access workshops.

As well, the team is trying to help Indigenous students connect with their roots and Indigenous teachings. That includes providing support for traditional art forms and Indigenous crafting for those who want to start businesses or promote knowledge sharing inside their communities, said Glenn.

The lab has heavy-duty sewing machines, including machines for embroidery and for working with fur or leather.

The skills the lab is working to develop are much needed in Thompson, said Glenn.

"You can't talk to an employer in the north without hearing they're having issues finding employable staff," he said.

Roughly 25 per cent of Thompson's population is under the age of 14, according to Statistics Canada.

North Forge hopes that training youth and developing a range of work skills will boost the economy down the road. 

"If we can give them an opportunity to learn life skills, hands-on training, catch the kids that fell through the cracks of the education system … in five or 10 years, you can kind of visualize the economic impact."

There's also the hope that will keep some of the younger generation from leaving the city of roughly 13,000.

"A lot of our wonderful graduates will graduate high school and their first objective is to make it to the big city," Stevens said.

"So having somewhere in rural Manitoba … where you don't have to dream about going to the big city — you can dream about developing your skills here — I think would be a major win for our community."