New college course teaches TV and film production skills to Indigenous students on Vancouver Island
Eight students are the first to graduate from a new Vancouver Island program that helps give Indigenous students the skills they need to enter the booming film and TV industry.
The students graduated from the inaugural year of the "Indigenous Production Assistant" course at North Island College, in partnership with the North Island Film Commission and Mid-Island Metis Association.
"I'm pretty eager. I live in Victoria, B.C., and there's like 15 Hallmark [movies] filmed there a year, which is pretty good if I want to be a P.A. (production assistant)," said graduate Castor Angus.
The course spanned 12 weeks and covered everything from traffic control to food safety.
"I really discovered a lot of the behind the scenes of film, and I think it made me appreciate the end credits of movies more, knowing what each of these parts of a film crew do," said graduate Talela Manson.
North Island College and the North Island Film Commission have been working together on developing motion picture skills training for the past five years.
"There's so much interest now from the motion picture industry into diversifying our crew base," said Joan Miller, North Island Film commissioner.
"It's a big push in many industries right now, but it's really key in British Columbia right now, so there was a lot of excitement from our producers, from the unions, they're watching this program really closely," she said.
Course coordinator Aimee Chalifoux believes the employment prospects for program graduates are high.
"Oh, [the industry] is huge on Vancouver Island and B.C., and now with COVID being gone I think it's going to go pretty quick," she said.
The next Indigenous Production Assistant course at North Island College is set to begin in October.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Former Air Canada employees among suspects identified in gold heist at Pearson Airport: police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archaeological site in southwest France.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
U.K. plan to phase out smoking for good passes first hurdle
The British government's plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking cleared its first hurdle in Parliament on Tuesday despite vocal opposition from within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party.