Did you know that the Canadian mining industry directly employs more than 373,000 workers across the country in mineral extraction, smelting, fabrication and manufacturing, and indirectly employs an additional 190,000 in other related fields. Mining is also the largest private sector employer of Aboriginal people in Canada on a proportional basis. Here at ABQ we decided it was time to take a look at a few of those individuals with careers that are in some way connected to mining.

Having grown up on the Arctic Coast in Cambridge Bay, young Inuit mechanic Tyler Blewett has always enjoyed working with his hands.

While he knew early on that he wanted to wrench for a living, it still took him time to figure out what part of the industry interested him most.

“I started off in aviation, but that was very stressful and it’s hard to have a home life,” said Blewett. He then shifted focus to do a heavy-duty mechanic apprenticeship through Aurora College in Fort Smith with Northern-trucking mainstay RTL.

For the past six months, however, he’s been working with Polar Tech Recreation in Yellowknife and he couldn’t be happier.

“I’m home every day now and I get to work on more interesting stuff,” he said. “All day I basically get to work on big toys, it’s great.”

Far and away his favourite part of the job is working on boats.

“I’ve got one myself – a 20-foot Northwood with a Mercruiser inboard/outboard engine,” he said beaming. “It’s a little older, but it’s a good boat.”

He said he enjoys the pace of the summer at work, explaining that everything needs to be a really quick turnaround because boating season is so short in the North.

His employer isn’t likely the first that comes to mind when you think about the resource sector, but he insisted there are more connections than you’d think.

“We rent, sell and service a lot of equipment for the exploration sector, working with great companies like Aurora Geoscience,” said Blewett. “Generators and other off-grid power solutions are part of what we do, but so is renting construction equipment, like tampers for packing down gravel for example.”

There’s also the fact that more mining and exploration activity around the North generally means more disposable income in the hands of Northerners, which translates into more sales in general for a company like Polar Tech.

The most challenging part of his job is staying up to speed on all of the equipment lines he sees coming through the shop doors.

“Each quad, outboard and snowmobile is a little different, so there’s a lot to learn,” he said.

Fortunately his employer is investing heavily in his continuous training with plans to send him on one or two courses each year.

“The Mercury outboards course is in B.C., the Evenrude course is down in the U.S., and there’s a Bombardier Recreation Products course in Quebec,” he said. “They fly me there and pay my full wage while I’m studying so that is great of them to do.”

Blewett says he enjoyed his time at college in Fort Smith, which he chose because it made going to school much easier for him.

“Tuition and living expenses at Aurora College works out a lot cheaper than going to somewhere in the south,” he said. “I also had a lot of friends going there at the same time so it made the transition to college easier for me.”

For anyone looking at a career as a mechanic, Blewett’s advice is simple: Get your high school diploma and try out as many trades as possible while doing it.

“Take all of the shop classes you can,” he said. “Make sure you really enjoy working on equipment first, it’s not for everyone.”