New facility training Indigenous parolees for construction jobs

MATT OLSON

The Correctional Service of Canada has opened a special facility in Saskatoon to give departing inmates the chance to learn crucial job skills and re-enter the workforce.

Saskatoon Community Industry is part of a five-year Indigenous Offender Employment Initiative that launched in 2017. The goal in Saskatoon is to provide applicable job skills in the construction industry for Indigenous offenders leaving the federal correctional system.

Kelly Hartle, acting CEO for the federal rehabilitation agency CORCAN, said the program is in the best interest of the public as well as the inmates, and the numbers are promising.

“Through research, we know offenders are three times less likely to return to our custody with a new offence if they have employment,” Hartle said. “So this actually helps build that transitional opportunity to the community.”

The construction skills taught at the facility are up to modern industry standards, and the program employs Red Seal tradespeople who can help participants work toward apprentice certifications, she said.

People on parole or under parole supervision can be recommended for the program and are interviewed to determine their eligibility.

This style of “community industry” facility already existed in Eastern Canada, but the one in Saskatoon is the first to go up in the “Prairie-pacific,” Hartle said. Two more are scheduled to open further west: one in Edmonton and one somewhere in British Columbia.

Operations manager Kean Mitchell, who played a role in creating the facility, said he sees potential for people who get involved in the program to move toward stable, full-time employment.

“( We want to) get the word out to the employers that we’re here, that we’re providing the training, and we’re providing offenders who will make a great workforce for them,” Mitchell said.

Hartle said someone involved with the program has already moved on to other employment, which is the overall goal of the project.

“That’s one of the hardest times for the offender population, is when they leave the institution,” she said. “And this is their opportunity to have a bit of a supportive environment ... where people know where they’ve come from. There’s no stigma attached.”

We know offenders are three times less likely to return to our custody with a new offence if they have employment.