PVNC Catholic hosts Indigenous Skilled Trades Fair at Trent University
May 22, 2025
More than 200 students from 26 schools within the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board came to Trent University in Peterborough for an Indigenous Skilled Trades Fair on May 21, 2025.
The event featured 30 skilled trades vendors from a wide range of disciplines – nearly half of the registered vendors are Indigenous companies.
“The reason we’ve been putting on this event for the last two years is that we want Indigenous students in our Board to know that their cultural knowledge can help them get a career in the skilled trades,” said Cydney Habraken, Indigenous Education Coach at PVNC Catholic. “There are many Indigenous skilled trades companies here today where their cultural knowledge is not only an asset, it’s part of their careers. That cultural knowledge can help them go in the direction that they want to go in.”
“We want an opportunity for our Indigenous students to be able to see themselves in these types of positions and jobs. Bringing people in from community allows them to have that opportunity,” added Jo Denley, PVNC Catholic Student Success Learning Consultant.
Students, from Grades 7-12, rotated in groups through several demonstrations and hands-on opportunities including quilling, framing, hide scraping, the Skills Ontario Trades and Tech Truck and an independent fair tour.
“This is great. It’s great to see everyone around enjoying each other’s company and to see the community being strong with the songs, it’s just amazing,” said Sophia Dimock, Grade 11 student at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School. “I really want to see how the skilled trades work as I don’t know much about it.”
“I’m really having a good time. It’s nice to see the different colleges and trades options and the hands-on examples and different things you can get. It’s really nice to see. I’m checking out the opportunities I can get for trades in post-secondary,” added Silas Scott, Grade 12 student at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School. “I’ve been roaming and looking at everything and I’m about to do the quilling, which I’m excited to do. I just learned about woodworking, which was cool.”
“We have some students who are on reserve and some who are off reserve and a lot of urban Indigenous students in our Board and we want them to know whatever knowledge and background they come with, that’s part of who they are and they shouldn’t hide that in their job,” Habraken said. “Part of it is also bringing awareness to the cultural skills that Indigenous people in this area, on Turtle Island, have been doing since time immemorial, that these exist in the skilled trades world.”