“Our Government is proud to be playing an important part in the tremendous economic and social development transforming Canada’s North,” said Prime Minister Harper. “On my eighth annual tour of the Arctic, I look forward to speaking to Northerners about our resolute commitment to defending our sovereignty, while investing and creating the conditions for economic development, skills training and job creation.”

During his six-day tour of Canada’s mineral-rich North, the Prime Minister is making stops in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Northern Quebec.

Harper is accompanied by Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) and Minister for the Arctic Council, Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Senator Daniel Lang and Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon.

On an Aug. 19 stopover in Whitehorse, Harper pledged C$5.6 million in federal funds for the creation of a new Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining at the Yukon College’s Ayamdigut Campus, which will create jobs and stimulate economic growth throughout the region.

“Our Government’s investment in this new Centre will address critical skills shortages facing the region, while providing the citizens of Yukon and the North with better access to the education and training that can lead to high quality jobs,” said Prime Minister Harper.

The CNIM will be a one stop state-of-the-art education, training and research facility for people looking to begin a career in the mining industry as well as for those who want to improve their skills. Through the centre, Yukoners will have access to accredited career training opportunities, helping provide a solution to current and future skilled labor shortages in the territory.

The CNIM will also conduct applied research and development to address northern specific challenges in order to grow and improve the competitiveness of Yukon’s mining sector.

In addition to creating an estimated 40 construction jobs and six full-time and part-time jobs, within its first five years the CNIM is also expected to generate up to 520 trades, mining and apprenticeship graduates, plus 710 students completing shorter non-credit courses, who will provide much needed skilled labor for the North's rapidly expanding mining and exploration industries.

The federal investment will also provide the means for a mobile trades school that will make training more accessible by delivering courses in smaller communities and at mine sites in Yukon. Construction of the new center is planned to begin in 2014, and is expected to be completed and operational by 2017.

“Canada’s North has always attracted the brave, the industrious, and the dreamers,” Harper said on his stopover in Whitehorse. “Even today, adventurous Canadians still come here to seek their fortune, and I am more convinced than ever that the call of the Yukon, the call of the entire North is truly Canada’s call to greatness.”

On an Aug. 20 stop in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Prime Minister Harper announced that federal support by way of the Employment and Social Development Canada’s Skills and Partnership Fund to develop and implement a 25-month program to train 400 Aboriginal participants in essential mining sector-skills.

“The North’s rapidly growing extractive industry is driving prosperity and creating demand for local skilled workers,” said Prime Minister Harper. “The support being provided today will help Aboriginal participants in the North gain the training they need to access the jobs and prosperity being generated by the industry’s growth.”

The is being delivered by the Northwest Territories Mine Training Society in 11 communities and on three mine sites across the Northwest Territories and the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.

Following the training, six local employer partners, including three area mines, will place the graduates in a range of jobs, including underground miners, heavy equipment operators and geoscience field assistants. These employment partners are: De Beers Canada; Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.; Avalon Rare Metals Inc.; Procon Mining and Tunnelling; We La Dai Corporation Ltd.; and Bouwa Whee Catering.

In addition to mining jobs training, Prime Minister Harper announced continued support for geo-mapping in Canada’s North.

“Our Government is working to ensure that Northerners and all Canadians benefit from the tremendous natural resources in the Territories. Our investment in resource exploration will continue to unlock the full economic, mineral and energy potential of the region, while generating new government revenues, private sector investment and jobs," Harper said on an Aug. 22 stopover in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. "This critical knowledge will also help Northerners make informed decisions about land use and preserve our Northern environment."

The support is being provided through phase II of the government’s Geo-Mapping for Energy and Minerals program, which released 32 new data and knowledge products that will help unlock the mineral and energy potential in Nunavut.

The new data has a considerable focus on the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, an area where the iron formations are prospective for significant gold deposits.

This information and associated products have been generated from on-the-ground field observations as well as a customized array of modern geoscience techniques, such as airborne geophysics, remote sensing, and sophisticated laboratory analyses. Using modern interpretive techniques, data from all of these sources have been integrated with legacy data to develop new insight on resource potential.

To date, the GEM program has produced more than 700 maps and reports, providing valuable tools to explorers seeking to unlock the mineral potential of Canada’s North. Phase II of GEM will be used to further develop modern geological maps and data sets that will completely cover Canada’s North by 2020.