As a kid, Jordan Wright saw for himself the power of machines. Working alongside his father on a local farm, riding plows and tractors was second nature. Now this 19-year-old Ohsweken, Ontario native is turning his childhood memories into valuable experience for a career as an heavy equipment operator. “It’s just a different atmosphere, all the controls are pretty much the same but just a different type of work from agriculture to heavy equipment,” explains Wright. Trading rolling fields for construction sites, Wright enrolledi n the pre-apprenticeship heavy equipment course offered through the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) in Morrisburg, Ontario. Completing six weeks of in-class training, the OETIO program gave Wright the

fundamentals in heavy equipment machines like the mini excavator, compactor and skid steer. “We went through just the basic controls of it and the safety of each piece of equipment and what you should and shouldn’t do at a certain time,” says Wright. With his background, the mechanics came naturally and Wright scored in the top of his class with a 92 per cent final grade. “They told me that I’d go pretty far in this trade if I follow through with it,” says Wright.

With the help of employment counselor, Brandi Jonathon at Grand River Employment and Training, Wright’s farm experience and high marks have landed him an opportunity to gain work placement experience through AECON, one of the leading construction and infrastructure development companies in Canada. “They’re pretty much the biggest company infrastructure wise across Canada. They’ve worked on a couple of big jobs worth a few million dollars so they’re pretty big,” he says.

With Morrisburg being five hours away, it was Wright’s first taste of life away from home. “I’ve always gone places alone but I’d always known someone once I got there so this is a whole different atmosphere with people I don’t know and meeting new people,” he says. But after one taste Wright is ready for the whole pie and looking forward to taking his skills across Canada. “It’s a whole different atmosphere being in one spot one day and another spot the other day, that’s pretty cool,” he says. AECON has sites in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Edmonton and Breslau where he is currently gaining valuable work experience.

Once his eight-week probation is up Wright will know whether or not he has a permanent position with AECON. In the meantime he’s soaking up tips of the trade from journey persons willing to take him under their wing. “I’m always coming across new stories, new people, and what they have to offer, all the little tricks they can tell me. So every day I pretty much get to know someone new or get to know someone a little better,” he says.

“You have to make some sort of sacrifice to get where you want to go in life.” That’s the philosophy Josh Martin lives by as he works his way to a career as an heavy equipment operator.

As an ex maintenance mechanic for the Six Nations parks and recreation department in Ohsweken, Ontario, Martin already had a fair bit of experience before embarking on his training at the pre-apprenticeship course offered through the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) in Morrisburg, Ontario. Through six weeks of training participants are exposed to various machines including the tractor-loader-backhoe, skid steer, excavators and graters as well as associated safety practices. “In theory they take you through everything,” he says. The OETIO allots three weeks of in-class training followed by three weeks of machine training where participants spend half days on each machine.

“It’s like a kid in a candy store, you grow up as a kid playing with toys like jiggers,” says Martin who proudly states he had the whole Tonka set. As he goes off to work he teases his five-year-old brother that he gets to play with full sized Tonkas. But it’s more than just fun and games for Martin who is intent on proving he’s got what it takes to make it in the trade. Following his six-week program, Martin began job site training working as a laborer for AECON where his drive to succeed makes him the man for any job. “I go wherever they need me. I would like to get more seat time but also want them to know I can work hard,” he says.

While working on one machine would give him more specific training, Martin is gaining valuable insight into the life of a trades person working various jobs including flagman, working in a shop, and putting in Bell lines with a crew in Orangeville. As a floater in one of Canada’s largest construction and infrastructure companies, he’s worked with various crews across Ontario and benefitting from tips from other tradespeople. “They’re great guys,” he says, “they all help me, tell me what I’m doing wrong and howto fix it.”

Martin will return to Morrisburg for machine specific training in October, at which time he says he’ll likely focus on the excavator. However, given his choice he’d work on a 350 CAT, the largest excavator. “Go big or go home,” he smiles.

Martin plans to stick with AECON for his full apprenticeship but hopes to someday make it up north into the mining industry. “It’s a lot of money to be made, people have been telling me they need operators,” he says. His valuable experience will pave the way for him in an industry already predicting a 40 per cent retirement rate requiring workers to fill the gap. “ There’s just better money in the trades,” says Martin.

"I guess it just came natural to me, the welding," says 27-year-old Travis Fraser from Six Nations of the Grand River territory. "It's something that's interested me for a while. I messed around with a welder in the backyard with the demo vehicles, putting them together and stuff like that, just tinkering around." Travis was one of the first to go through Ogwehoweh Skills and Trades Training Centre's (OSTTC) pre-apprenticeship training course. At the time, he was interested in entering a trades career as an automotive apprentice. Six years later, he's still in the trades but enthralled in the art of welding through OSTTC's welding training course. "I didn't really think there was that much thought into the welding itself but it's so

particular on how you hold the rod, on how you bring it with you, you have to watch almost everything you're doing", he says. Welding is all about the numbers he says, "If you don't have your numbers high enough the weld is just going to sit on there and you can hit it off. If you have them too high, you can burn straight through the metal. So again, a steady hand comes into play, quick or slow depending on how much power you've got running through it."


During his eight week training course Travis learned the ins and outs of welding, including experiencing the more dangerous side of the trade. Welders wear protective clothing to prevent burns from sparks and slag, globules of molten metal that are expelled from the joint. However, in certain positions, such as welding overhead, slag can fall on clothing with the potential to burn. "The last incident I had my pants almost caught on fire. I was sitting there welding and then all of a sudden I could smell something,"laughs Travis. With burn marks on his boots and jacket, he chalks up the burns on his pants to just another learning lesson. "Those jackets are meant to take the fire. They can just have everything bounce off them but if something stays on it then it's going to burn right though," he says.

"Welding isn't for everyone," says Travis, "there are some people that just can't get it no matter how many times they try. It is pretty much an art, you've got to be really precise and you have to have a steady hand." As his first experience with welding, Travis is turning out to have an unknown talent. "Rick [his instructor] pointed out that I have a natural knack for it. He says, 'You've got it, you just need to go through with it'," he says.
"I'd like to get into an apprenticeship, it's very interesting and I know that welding can take me almost anywhere across the world," he says. Someday he hopes to get a position in the northern diamond mines, which require welders for maintenance on their vehicles and equipment.

In the meantime, Travis is waiting to get into the second level of OSTTC's welding course before seeking out an employer sponsor for apprenticeship. "My spouse she's like, 'Go for it, if your teachers told you that then keep going'," he says.

An accident and chance led to 32-year-old Lee Hill of Six Nations, embarking on a career as a sheet metal worker. Hill started out his trades career in ironwork, working alongside his dad but eventually felt the tug to strike out on his own. "I figured I had to get out and see the rest of Canada," he says. Hill decided to pursue employment in Alberta and settled in Edmonton working various jobs unrelated to construction. Finally, he found a position working as a laborer in a sheet metal shop, cleaning and loading trucks. However, tragedy struck when Hill suffered an accident while out mountain biking. "I got hit by a truck. I was laid up for three months with a broken collar bone so with all that spare time I figured I might as well sign up for an apprenticeship," he explains.

With the help of his employer and support from Grand River Employment and Training, Hill turned an unfortunate event into an opportunity and began training as a sheet metal worker apprentice.

Like most trades, Hill says he likes the hands-on aspect of the work. In the shop he receives orders on drawings which he must then recreate in metal. "I do a flat pattern of whatever I have to make and then cut it out and weld it or
rivet it, there's bending involved or rolling if it is a circular object," he says. Unexpectedly though, he's discovered an
interest in the science behind Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning, commonly called HVAC. "I'm kind of
interested in the way that air moves and things like that and with ironworking experience and welding experience, I
didn't do too bad in the shop either," he says.

Sheet metal work is a versatile trade that can take you into many different industries. They are found in shops, on construction sites and in custom stainless shops building everything from air conditioning ducts to restaurant and hospital equipment. Through the shop in Edmonton, Hill worked mostly on sheet metal products for heating and air conditioning systems, including on site installation. "That was the main thing that I was in but I had about two or three years in a sheet metal shop and I worked in a custom stainless shop for about three months and then the rest of it was mainly installation of heating and air conditioning," explains Hill.

For those looking for a trade with a bit of a daring side, sheet metal work can take you to surprising places. Hill found himself 120 feet in the air installing oversized duct work at a sulfur extraction plant in Fort McMurray. "There was a lot of crane work and the size of the air handling units were the size of a house pretty much. Each piece of the duct that we were putting up was probably close to 800 lbs per piece," explains Hill. With experience in Ironwork, Hill says, "The height thing doesn't bug me. It's kind of in my blood."

Hill is home now on Six Nations where there are plenty of opportunities in the surrounding areas. After eight years as a sheet metal worker, Hill encourages others to follow his lead and look into the trades as a career. "The industry right now is really hurting for people to take on trades. There is a huge gap. There are lots of people in the 20 to 30 year old age range then there's a good 20 year gap and you're looking at 50 to 60 year olds," he says. For the most part he says, "It's a good trade to be in. There are a lot of places to go. It takes discipline, being there, getting up, and going every day. Even people who have great jobs, have bad days."

As a female in a male dominated trade, Jonel Beauvais says, "There's nothing better than when you're on the job site and your boss tells you to jump in that machine and you know what you gotta do. All those guys look at you and they're kind of in awe." The 24-year-old Awkwesasne native works seasonally as a bridge worker alongside tradesmen for the Seaway Bridge Corporation. Her crew handles everything from roadwork, jack hammering, and maintenance to traffic control and road painting. However, when work becomes scarce in the off-season, workers face layoff unless they have an edge to keep them above the pack.

In 2006, Jonel found her edge when she decided to upgrade her skills and take the tractor-loader-backhoe operator course offered through the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Ontario (OETIO) in Morrisburg, Ontario. Recommended to her by her crew leader she says, "He explained to me that unemployment pays for it so it worked out great as something to do in the winter time. It's beneficial down the line because we're not always guaranteed a job every year and if they let me go I still have something to fall back on." The tractor-loader-backhoe is one of three machines eligible for voluntary apprenticeship under the heavy equipment operator designation through the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

The course offered at the OETIO was six weeks long and included 10 days of classroom instruction as well as 20 days of machine specific practical training. "I think the hardest part about the training was getting to know the mechanical parts of the machine because they want you to know every part," says Jonel. As someone new to the mechanics of machines, Jonel said she felt intimidated by the men in her class who'd grown up using them and to whom it came natural. "I had to learn quickly. You had to be there every day, you had to really listen and stay awake. The first two weeks are all safety and you really have to pay attention because you have to have 100 on your final test at the end of the course," she says.

Jonel's trepidation melted away as she felt the thrill of harnessing the power of a large machine. A tractor-loaderbackhoe consists of a front loader bucket which is used to grade, level, excavate and move material while a rear bucket digs trenches, performs excavation jobs, levels and grades surfaces. It is one of the few machines used on the Seaway and Jonel is now one of the few operators on her crew. "I guess you could say it's an adrenaline rush, just to be in a machine that size and to be able to move things and dig landscaping or dig trenches and just feeling like you've got a lot of power," she says. Of course, knowing that she now has skills her male counterparts don't, adds to the ego boost. "A lot of times a man on a job site thinks he knows more than you and because you're a girl you don't know how to do something. So it's nice to be able to go to a job site and know how to do something they don't," laughs Jonel.

Even with more and more women venturing into the world of trades, Jonel says she still faces a lot of negativity on job sites. "I'll be honest, and even my instructors were honest, you're in a man's world when you're in that kind of environment, there's no doubt about it and you have to learn to put up with certain attitudes and opinions. Some people just don't think you need to be there," she says. However, for Jonel, it was her own ambition as well as the hardships she faced which pushed her harder. "I really wanted to just one up on some of the guys," she laughs.

With Jonel's new skills, she's a versatile employee and is excited about the opportunities the training opens. Someday she hopes to operate her own landscaping business, a venture for which her skills will come in handy. "I think the most exciting part was actually seeing what I had accomplished. Just from jumping into the machine for the first time and driving it, I was so excited," she says. For Jonel, the excitement will continue when she returns to the OETIO to train on another machine. "Then you're a more valuable employee, rather than just knowing one machine," she says.

Evil Knievel and daredevils of the like have nothing on Nolenn Martin, a 29-year-old apprentice powerline technician and member of the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers currently working for Hydro One. "I like the heights. The higher the better," explains the Six Nations native who is currently in his fourth and final year of apprenticeship. With only 1,000 hours standing between him and full tradesperson status, Nolenn is on the rise, literally. As a powerline technician Nolenn spends much of his time up on wood poles or steel towers constructing and maintaining hydro lines to maintain the flow of electricity from hydro generators to consumers homes. Nolenn emphasizes the need to safely approach all the work he does and ensure safety systems are in

place to protect himself and his co-workers. "It's pretty demanding, you're hanging there and if your foot kicks out you're going down," he says. Nolenn has been lucky enough to avoid falling himself but says unfortunately he has had co-workers suffer fatal falls. "You've got to be on your feet, you're belting and unbelting, belting and unbelting so many times, sometimes 20 times, if you mess up once then you're gonna go down," he says.

As a former hull technician in the Navy, Nolenn is used to exciting and daring situations. Taking a job that sees him up 100 feet in the air suspended by harnesses and held up by spurs on his feet, feels like second nature. When asked why he likes heights so much he chuckles saying, "I'm Mohawk, come on, " citing the legend that Mohawk members of the Six Nations have always been known as having an affinity for heights. A typical day for Nolenn will often include climbing 150-foot structures two or three times a day depending on the job with about 30 lbs of tools and rigging on his harness.

While working with high voltage electricity comes naturally to him now, he says he never would have considered a job dealing with electricity before entering the trade. "I don't like household electricity, I don't like drilling a thousand little holes to feed a wire down to a panel box but I don't mind dealing with 500,000 volt towers because everything is big and it's easy to follow," he says.

Currently living in London, Nolenn says the hardest part of the trade is the travel. Driving from London to Toronto and Niagara Falls for work every day Nolenn has seen first hand how hard the travel can be on a car. "It's really rough on vehicles. I've got a brand new Cadillac and there are already 116, 000 kilometres on it in less than a year," he laughs adding that he is looking for a "junker" to handle the long drives.

Nolenn's "can do" attitude has won him respect and praise in his trade with promises of promotion in the works. "I've been told that I'm supposed to be going up as a subforeman position," explains Nolenn adding, "It'll be more paperwork, I'll be laying out the jobs, I'll be in control of the guys underneath me which will be apprentices. When they ask questions I'll have to know the answers." The new role will be challenging but much like other tasks in the trade Nolenn fearlessly says, "If you don't want to do it tell me and I'll go do it." "It's pretty demanding, you're hanging there and if your foot kicks out you're going down." Nolenn

Stereotypes in the workplace are being broken everyday with women assuming more and more powerful roles, showing they've got what it takes to work alongside men. This is becoming most evident in the trades with women like Jenelle Jacobs of Six Nations pulling her own weight as an ironworker. "A lot of them think you can't do it but once they see that you are there to do your job and you are there to put in a days work they have a greater respect for you for just getting in there and doing your part too," explains 33 year old Jenelle. What began eight years ago as a way of making a living to support two young children has become a lifetime passion sending her to various locations across Ontario. "I was supporting two kids on my own so I needed an option where I could work if I wanted and take time off if I needed to and had a high paying wage."

With a father already in ironwork, Jenelle thought she had a feel for the trade but says she never really understood what it was all about until she was immersed in it. "Every job is different, nothing is ever the same. No two days are the same," says Jenelle, adding, "It's hands-on. You operate the tools, you operate the torch it's all mechanical stuff, the mechanics of how things work, you see how they're put together, how to repair it, how to build something new and make it look like the old piece."Since 2002 Jenelle has worked in the industry for companies like Dofasco, Stelco, Toyota in Woodstock and Cambridge, the Inco mine in Sudbury, and Chrysler in Sudbury and Windsor. While on some jobs she is building the main structure of a building or reinforcing cement work, others like Toyota involve changing production lines as they switch from one model to the next.

"My kids are very supportive of everything. They understand when I can't be there and enjoy the times when I can be there," says Jenelle. While she loves her work she admits she doesn't like when jobs take her away from her children for extended periods of time. Luckily, she has a sturdy support system through her mother and father as well as other female ironworkers. With only 10 female ironworkers in her union she says it's rare to run into another woman on site but they keep in touch with text messaging. "A lot of the female ironworkers encourage each to going and we compare jobs and stuff like that. Kind of along the same lines as guys and how they have their buddies," says Jenelle.

“If you could get past the dirty aspect of it, you’d have a lot more plumbers,” laughs Trevor Claus, owner and operator of Claus Plumbing in Ohsweken, Ontario. As a full fledged journeyman for six years Claus has seen his share of dirty jobs but it’s the variability of the job that keeps him happy in his trade.

For Claus, becoming a plumber wasn’t something he anticipated. Circumstances left him needing a job quickly and with his father and two brothers in the trade, plumbing seemed like the right fit. “My father was a plumber, an electrician, a sheet metal worker. Back when my father was in the trades it was relatively easy to get a license or a ticket to do different trades. It’s not like the five year programs they have now,” says Claus.

Joining the legacy, 36-year-old Claus began his apprenticeship through Grand River Employment and Training and completed his in-school training at Mohawk College’s Stoney Creek campus. At a time when Ohsweken was still a budding village Claus joined his brothers in their on-reserve business and helped build many of the new houses and town houses.

Eventually Claus struck out on his own and started doing service work in Brantford, Ontario. That’s when his work took a turn for the dirty. “When I started working in Brantford it was my first experience with service work. Before that everything was nice and clean. I went to work in nice clothes and came home in nice clean clothes, the worst thing I had to worry about was sawdust,” he says. Regardless Claus has found success in a trade not fit for the squeamish. “Occasionally it can be kind of dirty, that’s just the nature of the game but for the most part I actually enjoy what I do,” he says.

Claus takes pride in his work laughing that he used to tell his boss, “You should take a picture of that, just paint it and put the walls around it.” He enjoys the feeling of knowing he’s done something, even if it’s only a small part of a larger building

With a journeyman status under his belt Claus is now the owner of Claus Plumbing offering residential plumbing service in his own community. “The only part I don’t like right now is that you’re really dependant on people to call you to go there. You can’t just go out and work some place unless you have some place to go,” he says. Claus finds that a lot of people still hire off-reserve plumbers and he’s working on getting his name out in the community to build up his reputation. “I do get quite a bit of work out here but there’s certainly room for a lot more.

”Continuing the tradition Claus’s 15-year-old son helps him on jobs, often carrying equipment. While he wouldn’t discourage his son from taking up the trade he hopes he’ll go to school and get some of the experiences Claus himself didn’t have. One of his brothers is still in the trade and working in the Lake Erie area servicing industrial plants like Stelco through the union. While Claus appreciates what his brother does he says it’s just not for him. “For myself it’s being some place different all the time.”