THUNDER BAY— Two tiny homes are nearing completion through the work of an all women construction program.
The Labourers International Union of North America (LiUNA) introduced a 9-week-long program in July, inviting 12 women to its Balmoral Street location for in-class education prior to construction.
The course is a first of its kind for the union in northern Ontario.
“You know what, I'm pretty proud of them,” said Bryan Nieweglowski, manager of training at the Thunder Bay LiUNA Training Centre.
"I'm pretty happy with what's going on with involving women in our trades,” he added.
“It is nice to tangibly do something for the community,” said Brittany Jewell, a student in the program. “I have never done an all-female-based class, and they are one of my best I've had so far in the years I've been doing this.
Approaching the halfway point, Jewell said progress is going as expected, with limited bumps in the road.
“We are working on getting the third wall up in our houses, and we've had to make some adjustments to the plan,” she said.
“Our windows came in larger than they were supposed to, so we had to reconfigure and put the door on the other side, and we're still waiting on a few parts. But, in the meantime, we're just doing more cutting.”
The program not only provides potential housing to the community, but also provides a sense of achievement and accomplishment.
“The group of people that I'm working with is fantastic, the instructors have been very informative,” Jewell said.
The course covered the costs of child care, transportation, and lodging.
“It's been the best attendance I've had to date,” said Nieweglowski.
With the success of the program, Nieweglowski hopes the program will continue to expand.
“End goal for me would be exposing people to our trades, getting them inspired to come in, and getting members out of it too,” he said.
Seeing the new female-oriented program succeed is the best part, said Nieweglowski.
“It's a pretty big achievement for them, all just in the fact that you go in the comment section of women in trades and you hear kind of old mentalities talk (that) things that aren't the way they should be, and they're proving them wrong,” he said.
“I mean (it is) all women involved, that’s why. And, we’ve taken all those barriers out in our program.”
The program will end in September and welcome a new cohort shortly after, Nieweglowski said.
“I'd like to have the whole building up and exteriors finished by the eighth (of September), just in the sense of what we're working on,” he said.
