UBC Millwrights accept eight Indigenous Candidates into MRCO Six Week Training Program in Bruce County with Support from OCNI, FNPA, HAAMB, and AABO

August 16, 2021, Underwood, Ontario. – The Millwright Regional Council of Ontario, the   Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI), the First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), and Huronia Area Aboriginal Management Board (HAAMB), the Aboriginal Apprenticeship Board of Ontario (AABO), and Bruce Power’s Indigenous Employment Program are pleased to announce the August 9 start of a six-week training program for eight Indigenous men and women at Bruce Power’s training facility in Underwood. The training and skills-upgrade program will prepare successful candidates to become millwright apprentices and begin careers as millwrights in the nuclear industry.

Financial support enabling the eight candidates from the Indigenous Employment Program to participate in this valuable training program is being provided by OCNI and FNPA through a Skills Development Fund grant by the Ontario Ministry of Labor, Training, and Skills Development (MLTSD) to recruit, train and place Indigenous peoples and women in skilled trades positions in Ontario’s nuclear sector.

The OCNI/FNPA project is part of the Ontario government’s new two-year $115 million Skills Development Fund (SDF) to support workers and apprentices in meeting the challenges brought on by COVID-19 and to help reduce obstacles to hiring, training, and retaining workers to participate in the province’s economic recovery. The OCNI/FNPA project is opening doors for traditionally underrepresented groups, such as Indigenous people and women, to enter careers in the skilled trades while enhancing the pipeline of skilled workers required to extend the operating lives of 10 nuclear generating units at the Darlington and Bruce sites and prepare for the next generation of Small Modular Reactors in Ontario and other regions of Canada.

“Millwright Regional Council of Ontario is pleased to be working with OCNI, FNPA, the Huronia Area Aboriginal Management Board (HAAMB), the Aboriginal Apprenticeship Board of Ontario (AABO), and Bruce Power in recruiting candidates from local Indigenous communities and helping them acquire the skills needed to begin careers as professional millwrights in Ontario’s construction and maintenance industry” said Mark Beardsworth, Director of Operations with the Millwright Regional Council of Ontario.

“We are proud to collaborate with the Millwright Regional Council of Ontario, HAAMB, Bruce Power and FNPA on this program which we hope to replicate in Bruce Region or “We are proud to collaborate with the Millwright Regional Council of Ontario, HAAMB, AABO, Bruce Power and FNPA on this program which we hope to replicate in Bruce Region or Durham Region in the coming months as the demand for millwrights expands to support Ontario’s nuclear life extension projects at Bruce and Darlington” added OCNI CEO Ron Oberth.

Indigenous cohort at the Bruce Power Training Facility in Underwood along with representatives from MRCO, HAAMB, AABO, OCNI, Bruce Power and the Adult Learning Centre. 

Millwright Regional Council of Ontario (MRCO) is composed of eight affiliated Local Unions of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) across the Province of Ontario. We represent thousands of women and men working as progressive cross-trained construction and maintenance professionals with exceptional skills to install, maintain, diagnose, and repair precision machinery. UBC millwrights are vital partners in industries as diverse as energy, automotive, aerospace, food processing, pharmaceuticals and more.

Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI) is an association of more than 200 Ontario-based suppliers to the nuclear industry that employ around 20,000 highly skilled and specialized engineers, technologists, and trades people. OCNI member companies design reactors, manufacture major equipment and components, and provide engineering services/support to CANDU nuclear power plants in Canada as well as to CANDU and Light Water Reactor (LWR) plants in offshore markets.

First Nations Power Authority (FNPA) is Canada’s only not-for-profit organization mandated to help grow Indigenous-led independent power producers while greening Canada’s electricity grid.  We got our start with SaskPower thorough our Master Agreement in 2012 and look forward to working with other power utilities in Canada to promote economic and environmental reconciliation amongst Indigenous peoples and other Canadians. 

For Further Information Contact:                                                                                      

Millwright Regional Council of Ontario 

Duncan McIntosh, Director of Communications, dmcintosh@millwrightont.com  

Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries:
Ron Oberth, President and CEO, (905) 839 -0073, ron.oberth@ocni.ca

First Nations Power Authority:

Guy Lonechild, President and CEO, 306-359-3672, glonechild@fnpa.ca.