Sask. aviation learning centre expands to address labour shortage

WATCH: The Saskatchewan aviation learning centre is about to grow substantially to address the skilled labour shortage in the aerospace sector.

Students and administrators at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) joined the president of Boeing Canada and the Minister of Advanced Education for a sod turning ceremony Friday morning.

Construction is set to begin on an expansion to the Saskatchewan Aviation Learning Centre, thanks in part to a $17 million dollar investment from Boeing Canada.

“This is the biggest single investment in our SIIT history,” said Riel Bellegarde, president and CEO of SIIT. “That’s why I said today is really making history for our institution 49 years later.”

The expansion will see the aviation learning centre grow more than twice its original size with more classroom space, a dedicated avionics lab and more hands-on training space for students to pursue a career in the aerospace industry.

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And Boeing Canada says it’s a field in high demand of skilled workers.

“The ecosystem certainly needs people,” said Al Meinzinger, president of Boeing Canada. “Aircraft maintenance engineers are one of those cohorts. Pilots, air traffic controllers, so indeed, the opportunity to, to invest in this institution as we look to the future, it is indeed going to create additional capacity for those future demands. I think that’s why it’s so important.”

The province is investing half a million into the program. Bellegarde says with partners like the province and Boeing Canada, these are examples of economic reconciliation in action.

“We’ve always had a close relationship with SIIT, it’s been in our province since 1976 and we value that relationship,” said Ken Cheveldayoff, minister of advanced education. “It’s a way to directly reach Indigenous students and see their employment and see their success. So I would very much agree that this is economic reconciliation.”

And for students in the program, the fundamental skills they’re gaining in the program, the sky is the limit in terms of career paths.

“Honestly, I didn’t know I was capable of being in a career like this,” said Mackenzie Ericson-Lemaigre, first year student in the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program.

“It’s incredible here because we’re not just in the classroom just learning theory. We’re half the day where we are in the classroom, and the rest of the time we’re out here, hands on the aircraft.”

Bellegarde says the expansion project is expected to be completed sometime in 2026.