Thompson Rivers University – From the ground up: building a career while rebuilding a community – Education News Canada
June 15, 2026
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.
