The Saskatchewan Coal Transition Centre has been busy since it opened in early January, as director Craig Johnston has been meeting with those affected by the shift away from conventional coal power.
The transition centre, which is a joint project between the United Mine Workers of America Local 7606 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2067, provides miners and coal-fired power generation workers in Estevan and Coronach with career training, business, retirement and mental health support – areas that Johnston said are important.
The federal government is supplying funding through the Coal Communities Transition Initiative. Johnston’s office is located in the Southeast College’s Estevan campus.
“We’ve had a lot of active participation by the guys,” said Johnston. “They’re obviously motivated to see this happen. So it’s been busy.”
It’s been tough to have people drop by and talk to him at his office in the Southeast College’s Estevan campus due to COVID-19 restrictions. And he hasn’t been able to go to Coronach to meet with workers out there.
“It’s mostly been by phone and by email, but people drop by,” said Johnston.
He estimates he will meet with about a dozen people each week. The discussions often depend on the ages of the people he meets with.
“Obviously the older ones are more interested in retirement planning and stuff like that, while younger ones more so are into career planning. We’re also looking at working with the Canadian Mining Association on a certification program to get a lot of the guys skills and experience, for example, on some of the heavy machinery, and getting them certified.”
A lot of them have the decades of experience, but don’t have the paper to say they’re officially qualified.
Labour Market Services and the Southeast College are also involved with the certification process.
“We’ve had some of our guys, as a matter of fact, help out with their heavy equipment operator program that’s starting up,” said Johnston.
Most of the clients thus far are from Estevan, he said, but that’s because it’s easier for people here just because the centre is based out of Estevan.
He hopes that as COVID restrictions ease, there can be a greater presence in Coronach.
The transition centre will have its first event, a virtual session, on March 22 at 6:30 p.m. Saskatchewan author Allan Kehler will give his presentation Mental Health: It’s Time to Talk.
“There’s all this uncertainty with coal miners and guys in the industry, and it’s causing a lot of strain. It’s not just with the miners and things like that in terms of career. It’s also affecting families, and they identified that this mental health issue was one that they figured was important and wanted to address.”
It’s been the transition centre’s top priority to help the workers deal with this “unfortunate, uncertain situation.”
They hope to have more seminars in the future, but that would depend on COVID-19 restrictions. They’ve talked to the Canadian Credit Counselling Society to have a seminar on financial education, covering such topics as retirement planning, debt, drops in income and temporary unemployment. Another presentation would be from Labour Market Services on identifying skills, skill transferability, and identifying gaps in abilities that could be addressed in training.
There will also be a seminar with Southeast Business Start Up, as some local miners have voiced an interest in potentially becoming entrepreneurs.
The Saskatchewan Coal Transition Centre also has a website now up and running, and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for people to reach out to him.
