Aboriginal learners in British Columbia's northern communities are developing their job skills in a wide variety of fields - including construction and mining - with support from community-based education and training partnership programs.

Medical students in the North are one step closer to having a new educational facility, with the official start of construction on the Learning and Development Centre at the University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George.

Funding of $9.9 million has been approved for the Northern Health Learning and Development Centre at the University Hospital of Northern B.C.

The government of British Columbia is expanding opportunities for health education in northern B.C., marked by the opening of a physiotherapy teaching lab at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), built in partnership with the University of British Columbia (UBC), and a commitment to provide long-term funding to the Rural Nursing Certificate Program.

Students at the University of Northern British Columbia will benefit from improved and upgraded campus facilities, thanks to over $582,000 in capital funding that is part of government's $44-million investment in B.C.'s post-secondary infrastructure this year.

The B.C. government is giving the University of Northern British Columbia's Community Development Institute $50,000 to continue research on economic diversification and ways to improve housing stability in rural and northern communities.