From the ground up: building a career while rebuilding a community
Nine Thompson Rivers University students celebrate the culmination of five years of carpentry apprenticeship this week. What makes this group of trades students unique in British Columbia is that they completed all four levels of their on-the-job and in-school training at home, on the Lytton First Nation. And they did it rebuilding their community.
In the aftermath of the 2021 Lytton Creek wildfire, which devastated the village of Lytton, BC and surrounding communities and left hundreds of residents homeless, Lytton First Nation was determined to rebuild, but being dependent on contractors coming from outside the community could make a project of such scope nearly insurmountable. Within the community, everyone was pitching in to help with the cleanup, but very few had the training to keep up with the need.
“We were struggling with bringing in people from the city or elsewhere, not having enough people in community that could do the job and keep up. That’s how it started,” said Andrew Ford, education manager at Lytton First Nation.
“When schooling came up there was a big expression of interest, but the general consensus was a lot of them wouldn’t have taken off work to go to Kamloops or anywhere else.”
Many community members who were interested in skilled trades training were already working on the rebuild and were supporting families. Some had lost their own homes to the fire. Losing income while paying rent elsewhere to attend school, not to mention leaving their community at such a time of need was unthinkable. So Lytton First Nation approached TRU about providing training in-community.
Partnership grounded in support
“We were super fortunate to be able to partner with TRU and bring this program to the community, allowing students to maintain their support systems,” Ford said. “It helped being at home and doing the schooling with others they knew. It turned into something bigger than anticipated.”
TRU carpentry apprenticeship student Michael Brown of Lytton First Nation completed his program and Red Seal exam in-community in Lytton while contributing to the rebuild.
Thanks to a partnership between Lytton First Nation, TRU and Skilled Trades BC, students could begin learning an in-demand skilled trade without leaving their community. In-school technical training with TRU carpentry instructor Glenn Smith was delivered at the First Nation’s K-12 school, still standing after the wildfire, with work-based experience gained on the rebuild site — one community member’s home after another.
“The school coming in, that really helped,” said apprentice Mike Brown, a Lytton First Nation member who had completed a residential construction certificate and a year of carpentry when the wildfire hit, and was one of the first students to enter TRU’s program.
“If it was year four at TRU or BCIT I don’t know if I’d go because of the rent and stuff. But if the school’s coming to the town, yeah, we’re all taking it,” he said.
Apprentice Justin Machelle, another Lytton First Nation member who jumped at the chance to further his schooling, had taken level one carpentry in Kamloops and obtained a few years of work experience in the city, but saw a need for tradespeople at home.
“I was glad they brought the training back here in Lytton and got some more community members involved,” said Machelle.
Rising from the ashes
Michael Ford, owner/operator of MF Contracting and Andrew Ford’s brother, was running his contracting business in Kelowna when he saw the Lytton Creek wildfire on the news.
“Right away, talking to my mom and dad, we said we’ve got to go help when it’s time. We’ve been engaged since the beginning, we knew I was going to come back and be part of getting families back in their homes,” he said.
Ford moved MF Contracting back to Lytton and was the principal employer for the new apprentices, many of them people he grew up with.
“To work on an apprenticeship in-community is invaluable. For a community that has experienced tragedy to leave home at that time was hard. I’m grateful for Andrew and TRU pulling off something pretty epic.”
Since that first wave of apprentices started a few months after the wildfire, more and more members of Lytton First Nation and other Indigenous communities in the region have entered the program, while Brown, Machelle and others continued their learning, still in-community and going strong with the support of chief and council, Skilled Trades BC and contributions from industry partners along the way.
“Programming delivered in the community provides the best opportunity for student success,” said Baldev Pooni, dean of TRU’s School of Trades and Technology.
“Training in the community for local students is capacity building and workforce development in critical work that is facing skill shortage. We are proud to work with Lytton First Nation in the endeavour.”
Watch: Learning Trades, Rebuilding Lytton, from LFN Education
Lytton First Nation’s rebuild crew has completed 48 homes in the past two and a half years. Still from LFN Education’s video, Learning Trades, Rebuilding Lytton, 2026.
At home from start to finish
In the past two and a half years, TRU students have been a part of completing an incredible 46 homes on the reserve. MF Contracting has nine homes underway, and plans are in place for a new subdivision. The rebuild crew is now large enough to affect change in other communities as well.
“It’s life-changing, powerful to affect families today and going forward. And I hope it opens doors for other communities to offer the same in-community programming,” said Michael Ford.
On May 22, the level four apprentices wrote their interprovincial Red Seal certification exam, also completed in Lytton. It’s a milestone for the program, the first time TRU has delivered all four levels of an apprenticeship program in-community, and rare across the province.
For the students it’s been a mammoth journey. They are coming to TRU’s Kamloops campus this week to mark the end of their studies, to celebrate at Spring Convocation and Indigenous Grad. But the deepest pride comes from the impact they’ve had, being part of rebuilding their community.
“A lot of pride went into it. It’s super exciting seeing them complete it,” said Andrew Ford. “We’re really thankful to TRU for all their support and making sure this was a success, and future projects as well.”
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