Track record
Training delivered on real community projects.
From 2009 to 2018 the people who now run Dominion delivered community-based programs where students trained on an actual infrastructure project rather than a practice yard. The community finished with the work completed. The students finished certified, having built it.
British Columbia
Work in the Southern Interior
WorkBC Heavy Equipment Operator training
Okanagan, British Columbia · with the Southern Interior Construction Association
A Heavy Equipment Operator training course developed with WorkBC and the Southern Interior Construction Association to provide skills training opportunities in the Okanagan.
FAST program — Kelowna
Kelowna, British Columbia
Facilitators Advanced Skills Training delivered in Kelowna — instructor and supervisor development, building local capacity to deliver training rather than importing it.
Additional Facilitators Advanced Skills Training programs have been delivered in Woodstock, New Brunswick and Atenas, Costa Rica.
Featured
A fully funded project, start to finish
West Kelowna, British Columbia
A provincially funded heavy equipment operator program delivered in West Kelowna — funding secured, training delivered in community, outcomes reported. Cohort of 16.
Produced, funded and published by the Government of British Columbia. Reposted with the province's credit intact; this is not our film.
Full record
Community-based programs, 2009–2018
Each program combined classroom theory with hands-on operation on a project the community had identified. Equipment typically included excavator, dozer, wheel loader, articulated rock truck, motor grader, skid steer and backhoe.
Oteenow Employment & Training Society
2017–2018
37 students across four groups, including a group of ten female operators. 36 of 37 completed all requirements and earned HEO certification.
Western Cree Tribal Council
June–August 2017 · Grande Prairie
Reclaimed an abandoned gravel pit provided by the Alberta Government — land previously under six inches to four feet of water — into a graded parking area, lowland lakes and reclaimed hillsides.
Enoch Cree Nation
September–December 2014
With Enoch HRD, Enoch Housing, Enoch Public Works and Mechet Charities. Rebuilt roads and driveways, excavated cisterns for new housing, and completed two miles of road including ditching, drainage, shouldering, gravelling and levelling.
Siksika Nation
May–August 2014
18 students trained on excavator, backhoe, loader, dozer, packer and skid steer, plus the safety certificates most commonly required on site.
Sturgeon Lake First Nation
June–September 2011
Built access roads and worked with Petro West on the twinning of Highway 43. 16 students graduated with certificates in specialised equipment.
Ermineskin Cree Nation
April–July 2014
Rebuilt two miles of road — vegetation removal, shoulder work, grade building and final gravel — plus repairs to the community ball diamond and Pow Wow parking areas. 12 graduates.
Tsuu T'ina Nation
June–August 2014
13 students certified on excavator, dozer, skid steer, backhoe, loader and grader. Reclaimed a gravel pit and recovered an old pond area.
Yukon Highways & Public Works
June–August 2012 · Dawson City
Grader training for new and existing department employees while maintaining the regular road maintenance schedule for the area.
Lubicon Lake Band
May–August 2018
Built a stretch of community road and ditches from initial cut-line to a finished, levelled and graded road, including a borrow pit, hauling, packing and grading.
Whitefish Lake First Nation
July–September 2018
12 students. Complete rebuild of eight driveways, assistance rebuilding and reshaping two main community roads, and clearing operations.
Driftpile Cree Nation
2009 and 2018
Road maintenance, a new ski hill and community park (2009); and a project clearing and levelling a 120-acre plot with twelve students (2018).
Woodland Cree First Nation
March–June 2011
Students built a new community park. All graduates went on to employment with Woodland Cree Industries or in the oil and gas industry.
Points North — Fond du Lac, Black Lake, Hatchet Lake
May–July 2011 · Northern Saskatchewan
Ten graduates. Road maintenance and construction of 10 km of all-season road including ditching, sloping and borrow pit development. Instructors administered testing orally where written English was a barrier.
Tall Cree First Nation
August–October 2011
Built a transfer station and sewage lagoon and excavated basements for new development. Ten graduates, all of whom went on to work.
Frog Lake First Nation
September–November 2017
Built a large pad for a new emergency services building — clearing 1.5 m of unusable material, establishing a borrow pit, levelling and compaction testing.
Samson Cree Nation
June–September 2013
Road building and maintenance with Samson Cree Public Works, built around an existing work schedule for twelve students of varied age and experience.
Peerless Trout First Nation
February–May 2010
Ten students completed a winter road build — land clearing and road construction — learning operation alongside communication, planning, teamwork and safety.
Bigstone Cree Nation
2013 and 2015
A three-part road building and housing project — field training, then pregrading and building parking pads for each house, then road repair and two new roads. A later program built a community sliding hill and prepared a new industrial area.
Alexander First Nation · Paul First Nation
2017–2018 · Enoch field training site
Ten students from each Nation completed the twelve-week HEO program — basic operation, advanced technique and preventative maintenance on excavators, dozers, wheel loaders and articulated rock trucks.
Swan River First Nation
September–November 2018
Built pads and entrance roads for community housing, plus road maintenance.
Loon River First Nation
April–June 2012
Twelve graduates. Farmland reclamation — clearing, brushing, levelling, reshaping and water drainage — plus a recreation project for the community.
Tobique First Nation
May–July 2014 · New Brunswick
Students worked alongside instructors to build and maintain new and existing roads and parking areas.
The archive
The programs, as they actually looked
Photographs from the High Velocity Equipment Training archive, 2009–2018. Every one is a real cohort on a real project. They are owned by Shawn Bonnough and published with the participants' signed consent, held on file.
In their words
What partner communities have said
These letters were written to High Velocity Equipment Training at the time. They are reproduced word for word, including the name they were addressed to — editing a community's own letter to suit a later corporate structure is not something we would do.
“We started with 12 students and ended with 12 students completing the program and graduating. Currently, 11 of these 12 students are working for our band business, with the industry leader that signed on with the contract or with other locally owned and operated contractors. This is a huge success for our community and Nation.”
Tracy LaboucanCEO, Economic DevelopmentWoodland Cree First Nation · 9 September 2011
“We found the availability of High Velocity to train within our Nations boundaries to be a very visible and positive environment for both our trainees and the community. It allowed our students to stay home with their families during their training.”
Tracy LaboucanCEO, Economic DevelopmentWoodland Cree First Nation · 9 September 2011
Signed letters of reference are available on request.
Want this in your community?
Tell us the project your community already wants done. We will tell you whether there is funding that fits it and what it would take to get there.