Kelvin knew what he needed to do, he just didn’t know how to do it. In a new country, with no friends, family or connections, finding work was priority number one.
“I asked myself, ‘Is there a problem people are having that I can help solve?’ Because that’s where I will find work,” says 31-year-old Kelvin Mbugua Gachoka, who arrived as a refugee from Kenya in 2023.
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He quickly saw Toronto’s growing need for homes and people to build them.
Kelvin tried to get his foot in the door in construction. Ultimately, he says, it was WoodGreen that helped him step through that door and toward a career with a promising future.
Kelvin is one of 22 graduates from this year’s Plumbing Pre-Apprenticeship Level 1 Program at WoodGreen. The six month program helps newcomers and other jobseekers kickstart a career in high-demand trades, such as plumbing and sheet metal.
Popular and Competitive Program
WoodGreen partnered with George Brown College, offering the training program free of charge. In just its second year, the program had a 100% graduation rate. Applicants see a program with real value and spots aren’t easy to come by.
“It’s a very popular program,” says Niki Stamatelos, Supervisor of Workforce Development at WoodGreen. “We had more than 300 applicants for just 22 spots.”
Applicants were screened for math and English skills as well as their suitability for the program and the trade itself. Stamatelos says the participants are all from groups who are under-represented in the trades, including Newcomers, Women, Youth and Racialized Individuals.
Free Tools to Continue Plumbing Training
Those selected must first complete academic upgrading before moving into eight weeks of Level 1 plumbing training. Classes at George Brown College’s Casa Loma Campus ran from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m , four days a week for four months.
“It was incredible,” he says. “What we learned in class, we then turned around and used in the shop.”
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Participants also got a week of training in a secondary trade. Kelvin learned to work with sheet metal and successfully built a garbage can and – conveniently – a tool box. That’s something Kelvin will put to good use. That’s because the plumbing pre-apprenticeship program didn’t just give participants the tools to succeed, it literally gave them the tools of the trade.
Every person received their own set of tools they will need to continue working in the trade.
In addition to hands-on learning, students were given job readiness training and completed a series of courses essential to working in the plumbing industry. Those included WHMIS, CPR & First Aid, and Working at Heights.
Diverse group creates first Canadian friendships
The course wasn’t all learning all the time, assures Kelvin.
“We all got along very well,” he says. “I made new friends in Canada and we all still stay in touch.” He says he loved that it was such a diverse group of men, women, newcomers and resident Canadians.
“I believe in working hard and I knew I could do it,” says Kelvin, whose background lay in banking, hospitality and farming. Every night, after a full day of plumbing class at George Brown, Kelvin worked a second job in a bakery until 10 p.m., in a bid to gain the ‘Canadian work experience’ highly-valued by many employers.
‘People will always need plumbers’
The longer he was in Toronto, the more he saw the city’s frenzied push for new and/or renovated homes, and it was clear to him he was headed in the right direction with the WoodGreen Pre-Apprenticeship Program.
“That’s when I realised, people will always need plumbers, no matter what.”
He’s right. According to the Canadian Occupational Projections System, there is expected to be a national shortage of plumbers until at least 2031.
In the Toronto region, plumbers earn an average of $34 per hour.
Plumbing is one of several trades in the province that is regulated by Skilled Trades Ontario.
To work as a plumber in Ontario you must have completed high school, followed by a four-to-five year apprenticeship in order to be eligible for trade certification.
Before someone can be certified, they must complete 720 hours of in-school training and a further 8,280 hours of on-the-job work.
Searching for company to apprentice
Kelvin is now looking for a company where he can complete the final component of the Plumbing Pre-Apprenticeship program – a 280 hour work placement.
“I like plumbing,” he says. “I like how it connects to the whole house and the whole industry. Once you see how it all works, it helps you understand how all buildings work. “
If he can find a company open to offering him on-the-job experience, Kelvin’s chances of securing an advanced apprenticeship position improve. After that, he can work toward his ultimate goal: becoming a certified plumber and starting his own business.
He says he now sees a light at the end of the tunnel and a real future for himself in Canada.
“I’m grateful to WoodGreen and to George Brown College,” he says.
“This program really helped us. It could have cost us a lot of money, but instead they worked together and I’m so grateful to them for that.”
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