DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD ONTARIO NORTH EAST
Youth Welding Program Partnership in Kapuskasing

Kapuskasing District High School (KDHS), Moose Cree First Nation, the Kapuskasing Indian Friendship Center, Rayonier Advanced Materials, Cloutier's Machine Shop Ltd and CWB Welding Inspector John Longstreet joined forces to create a Youth Welding Program.  This venture is a first in the region and brings attention to the trade deficit currently experienced in our northern industries.  At the same time, this initiative is a demonstration of efforts towards reconciliation in the community.

The goal of the program is to offer the students in the KDHS welding classes the best opportunity to test successfully  for CWB welding tickets in the MCAW (Mig) and SMAW (Stick) processes. This endeavour will see the students learning from experienced welders and provide them with the opportunity to participate in quality training such as weld fault identification and resolution, reading and understanding weld symbols on drawings, how to do root causes analysis and more. In short students successful in their testing will hold a recognized professional welding designation and will be able to work in the field immediately after graduating high school.

This initiative is empowering local youths in pursuing a career that is meaningful to them, while providing an innovative pathway to achieving that goal.  This program is also supporting the local industry and keeping our youth in the north.

District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) would like to sincerely thank the all partners of this program.  The Youth Welding Program would not be possible without their support and contributions.