Zainab Al-Medhar
Shawville March 23, 2022
The CWB welding foundation is a nationally registered charity that relies on the support of industry and community organizations to address the welding skilled trade shortage in Canada. Through different programs and initiatives, the CWB works towards bridging the gap that impacts students, educators, Indigenous peoples and women, enabling them to enter and thrive in welding careers. The program is also being offered in partnership with the Western Quebec Career Centre (WQCC).
The CWB approached Megan Tubman, the instructor and welding . . .
teacher at Pontiac High School to teach the course. It’s a five-week 30-hour welding stick welding course and upon completion, the 12 participants will have learned several different techniques, such as how to do lap joints, corner joints, butt joints, and fillet welds on tee joints, as well as learn how to do the starts and stops explained Tubman.
“They’re all really eager. They’re excelling very well. You can see in each class that there’s major progress on their ability,” said Tubman, adding that she has enjoyed being able to show these women her tips and tricks and pass on her knowledge.
Being in a rural community, many of the women who showed interest come from many different backgrounds and work on farms or help their husbands, dads or partners explained Tubman and so she attributes the interest of taking the course because it connects to other aspects of their lives.
The Equity spoke with some of the women who have applied for the course and they both have felt that it has liberated and empowered them.
For Shelley Provost who works at PHS, the interest was trying something new. She had watched her husband weld and when the opportunity presented itself she didn’t hesitate. “I wanted to try it. I wanted to do something that women aren’t usually doing.”
The most exciting aspect, she said, is “getting the sparks going and actually seeing that we’re able to fuse steel together.”
She hopes doing this course will equip her with taking the skills she learned in the welding shop and fabricating something on her own, and helping her husband in the garage, Provost added.
“I suggested that if it ever comes up again for any lady that wants to try something different. To definitely do it. It’s fun. It’s kind of even liberating,” said Provost.
For Erin Davis, she enjoyed the camaraderie among the women and being able to have such an opportunity to learn a new skill for free. “I think the fact that the course was taught by a woman makes it all that much cooler and interesting,” she said.
As well as the notion that it was a community-run program added Davis, it shows that there is a lot to be offered in the Pontiac. Also after so long in a pandemic and working from home, Davis said she was grateful this was being offered in the Pontiac. “This has been like a positive change in the scheme of things.”
When asked what the most fulfilling aspect about teaching this course has been, Tubman said, “watching how quickly these women are progressing, like they’re accelerating and compared to the first hour they started welding to the third class like, they’re all very determined and they want this.”
She hopes that the course could be offered annually to the women in the community because not a lot of women get the opportunity to try their hand at a trade, pointed out Tubman, and so as this is not a huge time commitment it encourages them and introduces them to a trade.
Seeing the interest and getting almost 50 applicants, Tubman said, “I’m super stoked on how many people were interested in the course and we’re hoping maybe that this will come up again for us.”
At the end of the course on March 25, the group of women will go down to the WQCC to do a CWB fillet weld test, which is a destructive test that includes breaking what they made to see how good the welding job is.
“I like passing on what I know, and showing women that if you put your mind to it, anyone can do it,” Tubman said.
