Crafting futures: KPU offers welding program to inmates

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For almost 15 years, Kwantlen Polytechnic University has partnered with the Fraser Regional Corrections Centre (FRCC) in Maple Ridge to equip inmates with valuable skills through a welding program.

The collaboration aims to provide inmates with not only hands-on experience in welding, but the opportunity to achieve recognized certifications that can aid their reintegration into society. 

The welding program, which began after FRCC approached KPU about developing something of its kind, has an intake of around 10 inmates for each session. The program hosts six to eight intakes annually, allowing up to 80 inmates per year to participate. By the end of it, inmates take their Canadian Welding Bureau test, and, upon passing, are granted their welding certification.

“We see the program as a win-win,” Faculty of Trades and Technology Dean Laura McDonald wrote in an email statement to The Runner.

“Inmates are being upskilled to become productive members of society upon release. At the same time, we recognize there is a need for skilled trades workers, so [we] are attempting to support [the] industry by providing certified skilled trades workers directly into industry.”

The curriculum is designed to provide practical, market-ready welding skills that can translate into job opportunities once the participants are released.

“Skilled trades are in high demand and the goal is to support inmates in decreasing recidivism,” McDonald wrote.

Inmates who attend education programs while in prison are not only better equipped to find employment upon their release, but are also less likely to reoffend and return to prison.

On top of providing training, KPU supports the welding program by donating retired equipment to FRCC.

“We would love to see an industry partner donate equipment,” McDonald added.

While KPU has no immediate plans to expand the program to other correctional facilities, there are plans to expand it to include carpentry in the near future.

“Ten years from now, I would love to see us be a lot more nimble to the demands of industry but that is also dependent upon space allocation within the prison itself,” McDonald wrote. 

To support women in the skilled trades industry, McDonald wrote that the program would ideally expand into the female facility at FRCC as well. 

McDonald looks forward to seeing the program’s ongoing success.

“The key factors to success have been the commitment of the FRCC administration, the keen participation of our KFA (Kwantlen Faculty Association) members, and the desire of the prisoners themselves to participate in this training.”