For years, northern communities have faced a familiar challenge, homes that face harsh winters, rising energy costs, and conditions that can create health concerns. Problems like mold, condensation, drafts, and poor insulation are common realities. Now, a new training initiative is aiming to change that one home, and one future builder, at a time.

A partnership between Manitoba Construction Sector Council (MCSC) and Assiniboine College has created the Manitoba Green Building Program. It is designed to teach participants how to build and maintain greener, healthier, and more energy-efficient homes specifically suited to life in northern Manitoba. Focused on sustainability and practical solutions, the program equips students with hands-on knowledge delivered right in their communities to support their families and community members.

For Clifford Lathlin from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), the lessons extend far beyond the classroom.

“The course I’m taking is how to make a sustainable building, make it more energy efficient and lower emissions and make it green,” offers Clifford. For him, the value of the course is also deeply personal. He hopes to share what he learns with the people closest to him.

“I’m going to use what I learned in this class, so I could show it to my brothers, sisters, and family.”

The need for training like this is especially significant in the north where colder climates place greater demands on homes and infrastructure.

Helping shape the course is Annette Head, a Red Seal carpenter and long-time MCSC contractor who is delivering this Assiniboine College curriculum. Annette says the program was intentionally designed with northern realities in mind.

“This course here is all about sustainable building,” says Annette. “It’s mostly focused on northern Manitoba for people with homes that are dealing with condensation, moisture, and other challenges in the buildings, and to properly heat and cool their homes.”

The Manitoba Green Building Program teaches participants practical methods to improve housing conditions while emphasizing environmental responsibility. Students learn about building envelopes, insulation practices, and the use of safer, greener products.

“I’m teaching them how to use proper materials, mostly green, like things that are safe for the environment,” Annette says, adding that the emphasis goes beyond efficiency and that healthier homes begin with healthier materials.

“Using materials that are non-toxic, that are safe for people, for the envelope inside the building, so the people that are living in there don’t get harmed with toxic materials and fumes,” she says.

Participants are also encouraged to think sustainably throughout the construction process, including ways to reuse and recycle materials.

“I also teach them how to use reusable material,” Annette explains. “If they were to renovate or demolish a building, to try and use the same materials from that building, and how to discard toxic materials safely.”

As someone with strong ties to the communities where she teaches, Annette says she hopes the training sparks a shift toward stronger and more sustainable homes in the future. Better insulation and safer building practices could ease a burden many residents know all too well: soaring utility costs. “One thing that I noticed from a lot of people is they’re saying their hydro is sky high,” says Annette.

She also sees opportunities for communities to embrace renewable energy technologies in the future such as solar energy and solar panels that could help save energy and money for homeowners.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to finally offer this kind of training to communities in the north,” says William Kirkness, MCSC’s Indigenous Liaison. William believes the impact of the training may reach far beyond housing upgrades. Having grown up in The Pas and worked extensively throughout northern Manitoba, he sees the course as a starting point. “The course is the start of what we hope will be conversations and knowledge passed on to younger generations who will make our homes more efficient, safer, and healthier.”

Thanks to a new partnership between Manitoba Construction Sector Council (MCSC) and Assiniboine College with funding from the Province of Manitoba, the Manitoba Green Building Program is set to deliver the training to 10 First Nations communities in northern Manitoba with foundational knowledge in green building practices, with a strong emphasis on the realities of remote and Indigenous communities.