Saskatchewan Polytechnic received a $5 million boost from Cameco on Thursday, April 2, a donation the school says will support new mining training tools in Saskatoon and a Prince Albert-based program for northern Indigenous women.
The gift, announced at Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Saskatoon campus, will go toward the school’s ‘Time to Rise’ campaign for the new Joseph A. Remai Saskatoon Campus. It will also fund the Cameco Virtual Reality Mine Lab and help pilot an industrial mechanics certificate program through the Prince Albert campus.
The announcement comes as Saskatchewan Polytechnic continues adjusting to enrollment shifts and staffing changes seen over the past year.
In previous reporting by the Daily Herald, changes in international student enrollment were identified as one factor affecting staffing levels, including at the Prince Albert campus.
Against that backdrop, Thursday’s announcement pointed to continued industry investment and support for training tied to Saskatchewan’s mining sector.
Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said part of the donation is aimed at expanding opportunities for northern and Indigenous students.
“We’re also investing in enhanced support and opportunities for Indigenous northern and northern students. Industrial mechanics, always tough to get. We’re always stealing them from somebody else, and they’re high demand in Western Canada,” Gitzel said. “So this program is going to be through the PA campus”
The donation also builds on a technology angle Saskatchewan Polytechnic has already been developing.
Last fall, the Daily Herald reported the school was expanding virtual reality learning across multiple programs, with administrators saying the technology was being adopted as a safe and immersive way to strengthen hands-on learning. Thursday’s event put that approach at the centre of a major mining announcement.
During the event, Saskatchewan Polytechnic demonstrated a virtual underground mine environment where students can collect safety gear, tag in and out, and practice technical tasks before entering an actual worksite.
The event also featured a local connection through student speaker Melissa Hardlotte, a second-year Mining Engineering Technology student who said she has lived in Prince Albert for the past 18 years.
“Everything changed when I came across the Mining Engineering Technology program. There was an immediate spark in me that made me feel like I’d found where I was meant to be.”
Hardlotte said investment in tools such as the virtual reality mine lab will help future students enter the workforce with more confidence.
“Investments like this, especially in technologies like a virtual reality mining lab, will make a huge difference for students like me.”
“It means we can enter the workforce more confident and be better prepared from day one.”
Saskatchewan Polytechnic president and CEO Larry Rosia said the institution’s long relationship with Cameco has helped connect education with workforce needs in the mining sector.
“In an average year, approximately 400 of our Saskatchewan Polytechnic graduates are hired in jobs in the mining sector.”
The school said the donation brings its ‘Time to Rise’ campaign to 75 percent of its $100 million goal.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
