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North West College uses new off-site facility

After serving as Centennial Park School and Phoenix School, the building north of Lawrence School will now serve as North West College’s new off-site facility.

After serving as Centennial Park School and Phoenix School, the building north of Lawrence School will now serve as North West College’s new off-site facility.

Administrators expect the facility to train over 100 students in programs not limited to industrial mechanics, essentials for the workplace and adult basic education. North West College previously had to use space in a number of places in the Battlefords, including warehouses and churches. The new location will consolidate the offerings from different locations, and will also serve as office space. 

North West College president and CEO Tavia Laliberte said the college has a contract with Living Sky School Division to use the facility for a year, and will assess possibilities for future use in the spring. 

The facility is called Mistikwa Centre. Mistikwa is a Cree word for a “cluster of growing trees,” and Mistikwa Community College, founded in 1975, was the college’s name before becoming North West College. 

North West College offers a number of certificate and diploma programs with campuses in North Battleford and Meadow Lake. Laliberte said there are 20 delivery sites across the region, and two thirds of programming is delivered on campus while one third is in First Nations communities and small communities in the region. North West College programming is delivered as far north as Meadow Lake, as far east as Duck Lake, and as far south as Unity.      

Melanie Roberts, director of programs, took those in attendance at the ribbon cutting on a tour. Support staff, student support services, career counselors and security staff will occupy space near the entrance. There are a number of classrooms in the building’s north end, along with a shop. Computers will be offered on a rolling cart.

Before Christmas every instructor in North West College’s new off-site facility will be a gentleman, while, of the six people involved in the ribbon cutting, five were women.    

North West College board chair Ken Hodgson said the Mistikwa Centre is “a temporary solution to a chronic space issue at North West College,” and with 2,600 students trained annually, the college’s main campus continually exceeds capacity.

As student enrolment has increased over the years, Laliberte said funding has reduced year-to-year or maintained status quo. She said the provincial budget earlier this year “very heavily impacted” the college.

Funding for the college comes from the Ministry of Advanced Education and the Ministry of the Economy, along with third party funding including businesses and First Nations communities.

Laliberte and Hodgson both mentioned the possibility of a stand-alone campus for North West College in the Battlefords as enrolment increases. 

“When you look at the community we serve and the demographics that are coming up within our region, there’s going to be an increased need for post-secondary education in this region and it’s lots of opportunity; people don’t always want to move to the city to do post-secondary training,” Laliberte said.

North West College administrators are currently advocating for a stand-alone campus.