Coronach, Saskatchewan
Surviving Downsizing: Reimagining Yourself in a Post-Layoff World
Project Lead: Jan Smith, Palliser Regional Library
The Palliser Regional Library’s “Surviving Downsizing: Reimagining Yourself in a Post-Layoff World” beta-test project took place in Coronach, a small community of under 1500 in south central Saskatchewan. About thirty percent of the working aged population has high school education or less.
The Poplar Valley Mine and SaskPower’s Coronach Power Plant was to close over three years and 300 employees would be out of work. Most of the workers had never worked anywhere else and had been out of the job market for so long they did not even know where to start. This project aimed to proactively address the post-closure retraining and job-hunting issue by creating a service that would effectively mitigate not only the displaced workers’ experiences but their families’ experiences as well.
While changes in plans for the mill made the original intent of the project obsolete, a small number of learners were reached with positive results, and the project lead organization, Palliser Regional Library, was invited to take a seat on the Prairie Skies Integration Network.
Read the beta-test report.