Age: 21
Location: The Pas, Manitoba
Population: 6,000+
Education: Chemical Engineering Technology
Industry: Forestry
Company: Tolko Industries Ltd.
Product: Kraft paper (pulp and paper mill) and dimension lumber (sawmill)
Job Title: Lab Supervisor
After graduating from high school in The Pas in 2004, Brett Lagimodière took the Chemical Engineering Technologist program at SAIT in Calgary. He really liked the program because it was very hands-on, working with different kinds of equipment and industrial processes.
Since coming back to The Pas, Lagimodière has tackled all kinds of tasks at Tolko’s pulp and paper mill: testing the paper for quality, making sure equipment is working properly and getting any problems fixed, testing the moisture content of wood chips and supervising lab technicians, to name a few. He’s also done reports for the water sampling that takes place regularly around the mill. “We make sure the water going to the river is clean enough for fish to live in, and that domestic waste is clean enough to return as well,” Lagimodière explains.
Life in The Pas is great, Lagimodière says. “I like it here. I like the lake, and hanging out with my friends.” A former competitor himself with The Pas Roadrunner’s swim team, he now coaches swimming with the club during the training season.
“When I first got this job, a lot of people told me I was too young,” he says. “But I went through the SAIT program, and I was chosen for the job. I didn’t give up when I thought it was getting bad.”