Tk’emlups receiving $290,000 to provide professional truck driving training

KAMLOOPS — Tkemlúps te Secwépemc (TteS) has received more than $290,000 in provincial funding to train eight eligible members to be professional truck drivers in the Kamloops area.

In a news release issued Monday (Dec. 12) morning, the B.C. government says participants will receive 15 weeks of employability and soft-skills training. It includes communication and mandatory entry-level training, seven weeks of on-the-job work experience with local employers, and two weeks of follow-up support to assist them in their job search.

“B.C. wants more professional truck drivers, and Indigenous people in the Interior want training supports to get good work,” Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, says. “We’re funding new training, so people get work experience and support to land the jobs they want.”

Tkemlúps Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir says the program is designed to give the participants a combination of theoretical and applied knowledge and on-the-job experience to give them a clear pathway to transportation careers.”

The full-time, group-based learning for the project begins Monday (Dec. 12).