The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Episode 218 with Rainah Lee and Max Ceron
The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what’s happening in the welding industry.
The path to finding your place in the welding industry isn't always straight or smooth—sometimes it winds across provinces, through unexpected doors, and even away from the trade entirely before bringing you home. Today's guest is Rainah Lee, a Welder from Mossbank, Saskatchewan. For young women considering welding or already in the field, Rainah offers straightforward advice on establishing firm boundaries, recognizing subtle discrimination, and standing your ground when necessary.
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All right, I can check. Check, I'm good. So I'm Max Duran. Max Duran, cwb Association Welding Podcast. Pod pod podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin.
Speaker 1:Attention, welders in Canada looking for top quality welding supplies, look no further than canada welding supply. With a vast selection of premium equipment, safety gear and consumables. Cws has got you covered. They offer fast and reliable shipping across the country. And here's the best part all podcast listeners listeners get 10% off any pair of welding gloves. Can you believe that? Use code CWB10 at checkout when placing your next order. Visit CanadaWeldingSupplyca now. Canada Welding Supply, your trusted welding supplier. Happy welding. Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Suran and, as always, I'm looking for the best stories I can find to bring to your ears on these magical airwaves. Today I didn't have to go far geographically, although her soul may live in other parts of the country. Today I have Raina Lee, who is an accomplished welder, and she's working here in Saskatchewan, in the town of Moss Bank, which you'll have to Google because I'm not even sure where that is. But, raina, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm good, max, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good. I'm loving that the leaves are coming out. We're hitting springtime here in the prairies. It's kind of a beautiful time of year.
Speaker 2:Oh I know it's gorgeous. We got flowers sprouting up everywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I just actually got the flowers going in my garden and I spent the whole day the last couple of days. It was like 30 degrees this weekend, so it was perfect.
Speaker 2:I know it's insanely hot and work pants and work coats.
Speaker 1:So talk to me first about where you're working right now. You said you're in Mossbank.
Speaker 2:What are talk to me? First about where you're working right now. You said you're in moss bank. Uh, what are you doing in moss bank working? What are you doing there? So yeah, I'm just outside of moss bank actually a smaller shop like corrals and gates and heavy panels are mig welding but you kind of get to do fabrication to that. It's kind of cool to see the different kind of stuff that goes into like agriculture and you know the side of stuff that I haven't seen.
Speaker 1:But you know, I worked in manufacturing for a long time in Saskatchewan and ag is something that's just a part of the culture out here. There's never enough people to sustain the ag work. It's like literally always a job in ag. But when I got into it I also went through that whole thing where you think you know the things you're going to build, but there's so much more. Um like, for a while I was building Buffalo squeezes, like things for farming Buffalo and uh, and that was really fun because, as you can imagine, buffaloes are incredibly strong and they can shred like quarter inch steel, like like just blow through it, so like you'd have to build like gates and stuff out of half inch plate in order to keep buffaloes in and that blew me away, that they're so strong.
Speaker 2:That's insane. Yeah, that's pretty cool. We use some pretty big stuff too, but like it's all a lot of oil field piping that we use, so it's I don't even know what that would be. It's about a half inch wall on that kind of stuff too. Like it is pretty thick, heavy pipe.
Speaker 1:So it's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sked 40s, 3.8s sked 80s 3.8, sked 80s, usually about 5.8, so it's probably around there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty heavy stuff. But so let's talk about where you came from. Where do you call home? Because you're you're a bit a ways from your hometown yeah, I'm a little ways out.
Speaker 2:so I grew up for the most part on vancouver, comox, so a small little Air Force town. I grew up there until I was about 14. And then we moved to the Kootenays. We lived in Creston for a little while. So, I'd say it's a good 50-50 between Creston and Comox, and those two alone are very far apart from each other.
Speaker 1:And then when you moved into, you know the Kootenays, you're a teenager, you know, I guess how did you start getting the thoughts of trades or welding in your head? You know what were the first seeds that were planted in young Raina?
Speaker 2:So when we stayed so there's a bit of a halfway point between, uh, comox and creston we had stopped in cam loops for a little while um, and there's some people that we met there that knew people in creston. So when we were telling them where we were headed, they're like, oh, you have to like get in contact with these people. So I did um, and then we ended up moving there and then meeting them and, uh, the one guy owns a shop there.
Speaker 2:So he does welding, mechanical, just kind of everything, but it's like a private shop, right. So it's nothing, nothing formal, but very word of mouth, um.
Speaker 1:So he took me on and he kind of started teaching me all this stuff and that's kind of where that went now, did your family have any of that in it, like he, your parents in the trades, or your or your you know, or your aunts and uncles or something you know, or was this kind of your first uh, experience with it?
Speaker 2:no, my mom's actually was a baker. She's an LPO now, loss prevention officer, but she was a baker for a really long time and my dad was a commercial driver. So this is not even close.
Speaker 1:I think baking is kind of like welding really, if you think about it.
Speaker 2:ingredients and mixes. Why am I so bad at it At baking, not welding At the baking?
Speaker 1:That's funny, because I'm not a great baker either, but I'm a really good cook.
Speaker 2:But baking and cooking are two different things oh, very different, very different, but I see what you mean.
Speaker 1:Like they are very similar in ways like there's yeah well, and baking is one of the og trades, right like, uh, chef and cooking and baking. Those are trades that go back thousands of years. Um so now, when you got introduced to this shop, you know in Kamloops, did you come out of that thinking like, I mean, you're pretty young? Were you thinking like, hey, this could be a job someday? Or were you like, man, I was fun, whatever, you know um, so the shop was actually in creston.
Speaker 2:It's just the people we met knew the people in creston where we were heading um. So I was there and working with randy his name was randy uh for a few years um now I had dropped out of school at this point so I was just working in his shop full-time but, um, he kind of pushed me to go back to school.
Speaker 2:So when I went back to school I started taking like the, the automotive um program there and, uh, eventually went on to do youth train and trades. But those thoughts were kind of there when I, when it all made sense, like the stuff that you were doing made sense like mechanical welding, like that stuff really appealed to me and it actually made sense more than a lot of the other stuff that I tried did.
Speaker 2:Um so, yeah, I was definitely looking and contemplating what kind of field I wanted to go into, which ended up originally being heavy duty mechanics.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. Well, that's a great trade. Lots of work for it too.
Speaker 2:Oh, of course, Um, but here we are now.
Speaker 1:So. So why did you drop out of school? You know like, what was it that you hated about school so much? Um, that made you just be like you know what. Forget it, I just like I can, I'll just work.
Speaker 2:Um, so my mom couldn't work. Uh, we actually struggled quite a bit, especially after the move, um, but she was on disability and couldn't work. So I ended up being the one going to work from the time that I was about 11, 12, uh, right up until I turned 15. And then I moved out when I was 15. So I got my own place and I started going back to high school. Um, and then that's when the youth train and trades program kind of came up and set me up for college. So what, when the youth train and trades program kind of came up and set me up for college?
Speaker 1:so what is the youth train and trades program? What, what was it? What was the plan of it?
Speaker 2:uh, they used to call it ace it, but now it's called youth train and trades. So what it basically is is that if you go to, say, high school, and instead of doing your grade 12 year, you can go to college to get those credits, you can pick some sort of college course to go and instead of doing your grade 12 year, you can go to college to get those credits. You can pick some sort of college course to go and instead of doing your grade 12 year, they put you through the program.
Speaker 1:So you get both your whatever you decided to go for and your grade 12 so it's really cool, and then they pay your way and did you do that as a welder or as an industrial mechanic?
Speaker 2:As an industrial mechanic.
Speaker 1:And then, why did you not pursue industrial mechanics or millwright?
Speaker 2:I did. For a few years I did. I worked in some truck and trailer shops. I did enjoy it, but that came with its own set of struggles as well with its own set of struggles as well.
Speaker 3:We're getting real here. We're getting real yeah.
Speaker 2:I did not have some great experiences in some of the shops that I worked in. So we ended up or I ended up kind of just like dropping that and then, when everything kind of went sideways, I went on to, uh, go back to Creston. I lived in Creston again for probably two, three months, just kind of figuring out what I was going to do after that. And, um, I was working. I was working at the shop I had just bought this truck actually the one.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, Spotify listeners you can't see this but, um, I bought this truck and I needed some exhaust work, so I was welding up the exhaust and that's kind of when I was like maybe I should go into welding, because this, just this feels right, like this feels natural. I'm actually like in my zone. I enjoying this, like the fabrication part of it I really enjoyed, so I kind of it was like an overnight decision to go from that to welding and now the issues you had at the shop that soured you from from that trade?
Speaker 1:were they because you're a woman you know like? Is that you know? That's something that I hear a lot, especially when I was a teacher, about how discouraging it could be for a female to go into certain industries, certain shops, certain places. I mean, I as a teacher one time actually had to go to a shop and say I'm never sending students here again because you guys are disgusting, you? Um? For the stories that I get back from my students, was that a situation that you had dealt with like as a young woman getting in the trades? You know?
Speaker 2:very much so and not so much here, like not at all here in Saskatchewan, but right up until just before I moved here, like it was something I dealt with, even in welding. I don't think it matters what trade you get into, whether it's carpentry or welding, or industrial mechanics or millwrights. You're like it's unfortunate, but you're gonna find those shops. You're gonna have that issue and, um, unfortunately a lot of places. They might not be as outright about it, but they will almost hide the disrespect a little bit better yeah and, yeah, kind of cover it up a lot more, but I've definitely struggled with that.
Speaker 2:that is what soured me from that trade and it's what almost like turned me off from welding. I took a little bit of a break and went into bartending because in left bridge, right after I got out of school, I had nothing but experiences with those kinds of shops. It was brutal.
Speaker 1:It's almost like I've thought about it before, like you know how, when I was like there's like rate my professor, so like if you're a college teacher, if you treat people bad, they'll slam you on rate my professor and the world will know that you're a bad teacher, right?
Speaker 1:And then you have like Google review for restaurants and people will say this restaurant is junk, don't go there. I almost feel like we need something for shops. You know, know, to be like this shop is racist, or this shop is sexist, or you know there should almost be like a star rating for how they deal with their staff, because I'm I'm always amazed and I've had tons of negative experiences myself and I'm a guy, but I'm brown and and brown guys have their own battles that they gotta deal with, and especially western canada is quite racist. But you know, if you were a woman, times 10 now imagine being a brown woman, right times 100. So like, when's this gonna stop right? Like it just seems to be, like it seems so silly that we still have these issues, but they're they're not like, oh, 10 years ago, it's like today.
Speaker 2:Today, you can find a really crappy place oh yeah, and I I will admit, like I don't know if you've seen the, the movie north north country. Uh, it's about kind of how this all started, with the first women coming into the workplace in the mines and stuff. It's a hard movie to watch, but it's definitely a good one to watch. Um, so there are still shops out there like that. Yes, it's probably not as common as it was back then, for sure, but like it's still. You don't have to go very far to find that kind of thing, and it's unfortunate. And, like I said earlier, there are places that are getting better at hiding it and getting better at, you know, almost gaslighting you, or?
Speaker 2:yeah, making it seem like it's not as bad yeah but but, like you said, there are still shops that are outright like that, like it's. It's a tough. It's a tough place to be if you're any sort of minority, for sure well, I just had a friend of mine move out here from ontario.
Speaker 1:He's a red seal welder, um got all his pipe endorsements. Came out west to make money right, he's a good friend of mine and uh and and the money is good out west. I mean, we're not gonna lie. The money out here is better than out east um in some cases almost twice as much, which can be pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:But he's really struggled with how rough it is out here out west. He can't so like he's from ontario, um, half his friends are either people of color or black and gay and whatever else, because he's from a bigger center, um, and he has almost quit two jobs already in saskatchewan because people are saying like the n-word in the shop and you know just brutal, brutal things that I. I hate hearing that because on my on my end.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm trying to get more welders into the industry. The shops are dying. Shops are calling me every day Max, we need welders, max, we need welders. And I feel like being like, yeah, well, what are you doing to make it better? You know like, I feel like saying, you know like if we all need so many more welders and we all need to get more people, that means we need women, we need gay, we need trans, we need people of color, we need one arm, we need one eye we need everybody right, and how am I supposed to sell that trade if there's still bad actors out there that are making it right?
Speaker 2:oh, of course like I yeah, it's a hard one and like, and I, where I'm at right now, what I've noticed in the little bit of time I've been in Saskatchewan so far but maybe it's just like where I'm at it's been considerably less than Alberta. But again, like I'm not in this big center, I'm in like a smaller, very small like farm community where everybody kind of looks at everybody the same but I did not have that.
Speaker 2:I had the very similar experience in alberta, where it's, you know, dropping the n-word in the shop and it's, it's a rough place to be for sure. So I'm pretty lucky where I'm at right now. Like it's just me and one other woman in the shop right now, which is crazy to me because I'm so used to it being c. But I know what you mean. Like it's just me and one other woman in the shop right now, which is crazy to me because I'm so used to it being c.
Speaker 2:But I know what you mean.
Speaker 1:Like it's, it's hard so when you said you were getting ready to drop welding, like you walked away from industrial mechanic too many bad experiences and then you said you finished welding school and you were like you know what? I'm not doing this either. I want to be a bartender. Just just forget about it. And I've. You know, one of my favorite students of all time, a girl, um, is now a bartender because she couldn't deal with the and welding, and then I've seen that story play out. So what is it that pushed you out of welding or made you question even being in the welding trades? Same thing, or was it like? Was it ever an inability to find work or or stuff like that, which sometimes new people, like new to the trades, have trouble?
Speaker 2:there was a lot of work. So that's where I was. When I stepped back from welding I was like, okay, after what just happened? Um, there was a journeyman who was getting very physical with me and when I brought it up they just tried to tell me that I was causing issues with the journeyman and that I was no longer a good fit for the team and that I need to just keep my mouth shut. And I was like no.
Speaker 2:So after a couple of experiences with that and the psychological warfare and the whole gaslighting part of it in the different shops that I tried in and around Lethbridge Don't get me wrong, I did work with some really great people there too, but it wasn't enough to outweigh the stuff that was going on. So I don't want to discredit the fact that there are still good men out there in that field and good women Just want to put that out there. But after that last one was pretty bad. Uh, me and the partner I was with at the time. He had just lost his job, so he was going to work for his family in Strathmore, so we moved up there. I kind of took the summer off.
Speaker 2:Um, I wasn't quite bartending yet but, I kind of took the summer off trying to figure out what we were going to do. Um, and then we ended up moving to the Crow's nest pass, which is where I went into bartending right now, where in this journey did I meet you?
Speaker 1:because I saw you at canwell in toronto. I believe that was the first time I met you. Was that is that right? Yeah, in person anyway, yeah yeah, yeah, now you know you came out there to be a part of the. You know the chapters and the can weld and the whole thing. What? How did that happen? How did you first of all even hear about it? How did you get involved and how did you end up sitting at the table with me out in the middle of Ontario?
Speaker 2:so I've been listening to the podcast for about two years now. So when I was in welding school, that's when I started listening to it. That would have been about the time that I was really struggling and I think I talked to you a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:That would have been. That was June, right, that was June last year. Yep, yeah, okay. So, yeah, that would have been about the same time that I was getting ready to take the summer off and to just kind of step back and figure out what it is I was gonna do. Um, I ended up going out there because I originally heard about fabtech and then I got the email about Canweld, so it kind of all just meshed together. I was like I'm gonna do both of it, uh, both of them, and uh, yeah, I just kind of bought my ticket and went out there and just, and I love.
Speaker 1:Like you literally just rolled up one morning by yourself and we're like hi, like you literally just rolled up one morning by yourself and we're like hi, I'm reina. Yeah, like, uh, I want to be a part of stuff.
Speaker 2:And I was like, okay, well, come on in yeah, that was a little nerve-wracking for me for sure, but I I was definitely worth it, like I had a lot of fun there. I got to see a lot of cool stuff and meet some really cool people. For sure I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1:So well, what was your experience with it? You know, like a lot of people that haven't gone to a can weld or right, and like this year we're doing well, the industry days and red deer same thing, though. You know these big conferences, conferences, the, these networking opportunities. What were your biggest takeaways? Because I feel like you really got your juice out of it. You pretty much attended every single thing you could, because there's basically stuff happening all day and all night, every night, right oh, I know, it was nuts so what were your biggest takeaways from that week?
Speaker 2:I don't know everybody that I met from that week, I don't know everybody that I met there, gave me some really good pointers and some good tips and being able to bring some stuff back into this shop and being able to tell even my my boss now about this new stuff. And he's like, oh, how'd you hear about that? I was like, oh well, I went to fabtech last year and they had a booth set up, um, and oh, how'd you, how do you know this person? Oh well, I met them here. Uh, so it's kind of cool and especially now being closer to regina and being closer to this kind of stuff, um, it's kind of cool being able to have that kind of full circle moment and actually use that, that information and, uh, you know, let him know about the products and the stuff that I, you know, saw in the booths and then having him bring it into the shop like it's.
Speaker 2:It's super cool awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that it was like. I love just seeing young people get involved. I remember trying to convince you to not leave the trades because because I know they can be taunting and I've tried to leave the trades a few times with myself, um, but you know you, you stick it out and there is a a payoff in the end. You know for you. Now you're still welding, so let's go back to that timeline.
Speaker 2:You took some time off to bartend what happened so I found out that the bar that I was working at was closing down. Um, the owners just kind of wanted to spend some more time with their family and they had been in the restaurant industry for 15 years. So they were, they're ready to step back, they're ready to spend some time with family. And, uh, they kind of just let us know, like, hey, you guys got like two months to find a new job. Like we're, we're getting ready to close this place down.
Speaker 2:Um, so I wasn't sure what I was gonna do, whether I wanted to stay in the crossness pass or, if I wanted to, you know, go back home or go to creston. I wasn't sure what was gonna happen. But, um, so we had a big party the day after valentine's day. Uh, just a busy rush, but that was about the time that there was a lot of slutters in town there for snowmobiling, a lot from Saskatchewan. So I met a couple of them and they kind of, let me know we were just talking, and after I'd already closed the bar down, you know kind of sat down and you know, shoot the for a little bit.
Speaker 2:Um, I kind of let them know the situation, what was going on, and, like the bar's closing down, like I'm not a journeyman, but like I have tickets and welding, I've experienced like I've gone to school and they're like, okay, well, we know somebody, let's make a call. So then the following so that would have been Friday. So then the following Sunday they would have been friday. So then the following sunday they're like call this person. And I did, and then it was just a matter of okay, pack your stuff and move to saskatchewan.
Speaker 2:I was like, okay, and that was in itself was nerve-wracking, like I hadn't been past medicine hat before that other than to like ontario and PEI, but, like I had, I've never been to Saskatchewan, I've been to Manitoba. So to move somewhere that I didn't know anybody, didn't have any friends or family out there, didn't really know exactly what I was getting into. I was like, ah, you know, I don't have a lot to lose right now. What could go wrong?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, so did you come out here completely alone, like just pack up your truck and drive out to saskatchewan for the job, um, or or do you have, like you know, any type of like did you? Did the dogs come with you? At least are you all alone out here, what you doing?
Speaker 2:I got a cat.
Speaker 1:Cats are awesome. Cats are awesome. Cats are way easier to travel with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, she did not appreciate the car ride. She had some words about that, but she's alive. So I think it's fine.
Speaker 1:And this job, the job that you got out here, kind of work is it like? I mean, is it uh, is it? You're on the road every day. Are you in a shop every day?
Speaker 2:no, I'm in a shop every day and I've actually grown to really appreciate that. I always thought that I wanted to be, you know, on the road, especially being like a sub previously in lethbridge being a subcontract worker like I always thought that, oh yeah, I want to be on the road, I want to have my own truck, I want to be you know on and off job sites. But now I just really appreciate being in a shop all day working eight to five, you know, doing my thing like I. I've really grown to appreciate that I totally get that I also.
Speaker 1:I mean, I never wanted to have a truck. I never wanted to have that world of chasing money like that. I did chase shutdowns and stuff for a while for for you know work, but even that it was only for the money. I never wanted to do it like full-time, like that would be my gig forever. I always, uh, appreciated shop work. I like the finesse of shop work, the ability to be a little you know you can be a little pickier, you can be a little more spoiled in the shops. The nicer tools, the nicer equipment, the nicer stuff. When you're in the field it's always just like slam it together.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's madness it's always a disaster you know, and it's like, okay, well, chill out. You know, let's think about things a little bit right so well.
Speaker 2:And then on the job site too, like and they can probably get like this in a lot of like bigger shops, but like there's so many people trying to be involved in one thing. So, like you said, like everybody's got an input, like you're the apprentice just here trying to learn and you got two journeymen like screaming at each other just trying to figure out one problem and you're like I have an idea but nobody wants to hear it because there's just so much going on.
Speaker 2:It's, it's, it's, it is chaos. Um, I didn't didn't learn as much as I would have liked to in the field, solely because of that.
Speaker 1:Well, you got to have the right mentor. So, I definitely appreciate being in the field. Well, let's take a.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and I did not.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's tough. It's tough without a good mentor. Yeah, all right. Well, let's take a break now for our commercials and our advertisers that love to sponsor us because we love them, and we'll be right back after these messages here with Raina Leak, who's calling in from Mossbanks, saskatchewan, but is from all over Western Canada. So we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.
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Speaker 1:And we are back here on the cwb association podcast. My name is max saran and I'm here with rain ali, all right. So before the break, we're talking about. You know your travels that got you from the west into less west central canada and working in saskatchewan. So is there like, prior to coming to work in saskatchewan, had you heard anything about the work out here? Did you have any like concepts of what it would be like? You know, like when someone said, hey, I got a friend out in saskatchewan that can give you some work, were you like, oh, I'm not gonna like that, or you know, did you have any any thoughts about what it might be like?
Speaker 2:um, not really. No, I didn't know what to expect. Like I I'd heard from previous people you've talked to on the podcast. Um, like the work in the bigger places like Regina and Saskatoon and places like that, uh, like more in the centrals, I had no idea anything about what was gonna be the kind of work in a little farm shop in the middle of nowhere with five houses and a co-op. Um, so, yeah, I didn't really have anything to go off of.
Speaker 1:Uh, maybe if I was moving to regina I'd have a little bit more idea, but no, I didn't know what I was getting into now, considering your background with small towns and growing up, you must feel pretty comfortable in small town Saskatchewan, Because I mean it's easy living in Saskatchewan. It really is.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, I don't. Well, yes, it definitely is. This is smaller than I'm used to, for sure. Um, so it's this weird feeling of being so at home. It's strange, even though this is the furthest thing from Vancouver Island that you could even picture but I just feel so like, so naturally at peace here, and it's a weird feeling because I haven't felt that in a very long time. So, yeah, I haven't felt that in a very long time. So, yeah, I really like it. It is smaller than I'm used to and vastly flatter.
Speaker 1:Well, you got a lake right by you.
Speaker 2:You got a couple of really big, nice lakes right by us. Oh yeah, Thompson, it's gorgeous. I was just out there the other day. We went for a ride on the bikes.
Speaker 1:It is beautiful. So you're still not quite like the ocean. No, no, it's not. But I was just googling moss bank because I feel like I've driven through it a thousand times and I just realized something. I just realized that it's close to willow bunchunch. That's where I go camping every May long for like 30 years. There's a part of the province called the Big Muddy in southern Saskatchewan. The Big Muddy is around the Assiniboia Bangoff Willow Bunch area and it's one of my favorite parts in the whole world. Like not even just Canada like in the whole world. The valleys are beautiful, the people are wonderful, the history there is amazing. Amazing. It's where the natives, first the indigenous people of canada first like really revolted against colonialism and I love that that happened here. Like that it was like that's enough. This is the big war. This is like where louis riel came from, where all the big armies of indigenous people fought and uh, and you're not far from all that history.
Speaker 2:Like where you are in moss bank, it's like not even 45 minutes south of you is where all that stuff happened that's really interesting because, like I've been, like every weekend I I skip town, I go, you know, I go check out somewhere else whether it's a cinnaboya, but I haven't got out to willow bunch in that area yet. So that's interesting, that might be in next weekend, weekend thing to go, check, go. But there is so much history around here like this used to be like a flight training base.
Speaker 2:It's so cool. Like I got to watch they were probably coming from, uh, moose jaw. But I got to watch they were probably coming from Moose Jaw, but I got to watch some stunt pilots flying around today at work. It was super cool to see there was so much history around here. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, we got Canada's largest Air Force base in Moose Jaw, so you see a lot of jets flying around here all the time. People are like, wow, a jet. It's like you get pretty used to that in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 2:Pretty used to that, being from an Air Force town. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so cool because I haven't seen it in such a long time. It's bringing out that like little girl in me. It is so cool.
Speaker 1:Well, do you like to golf, Reina?
Speaker 2:I can't say I've ever been golfing.
Speaker 1:I was going to say because in two weeks yeah, in two weeks I'm going to be in Willow Bunch for the whole weekend for May long, and we'll be golfing and drinking and partying and having fun. So you have an open invite if you want to come down, and we book a bunch of sites. So, and there's a little inn in town there too, if you want to come hang for the night or two. So if you're, if you're not working the weekend of May long, hey, you got somewhere to go. And there's a whole group of us, there's lots of us.
Speaker 2:it's really fun oh, we might just have to do that that sounds like a lot of fun actually and I haven't been out that way yet.
Speaker 1:So good, good, right on so this, um, you know, like the work that you're doing, does it give you more inspiration to stay within the trades? You know, like, I feel like you've had a lot of negative experiences and I mean I'm hoping that you can build a whole bunch of positive experiences now, you know, going forward. Do you feel like you're on the right track?
Speaker 2:I do and I've thought about this a lot, especially because I work with a younger girl and she asked me a lot of questions about, like my previous experiences in the trades. So it's nice being able to, you know, talk to her about this and tell her like, like this is what you have to look out for and like give her a little bit of pointers if she's going to go elsewhere with it. Um, and like, my boss is great, he's, he's great. He doesn't look at me any differently, whether I'm male, female, whatever have you, like he, he trusts us. He kind of lets us do what he wants or what, not what we want, but like he, he trusts us. Um, so it is really nice.
Speaker 2:I find myself kind of like stepping back and looking at it like this is how it should have been the whole time, like this is this is kind of what I was looking for was somebody to actually mentor me but also trust me at the same time and give me the freedom to make these choices, but also not feel bad if I have questions or feel like I'm in trouble if I have to come and ask this. He's pretty great that way, and then I can also teach her the things I've learned because she hasn't been to school. So it's kind of cool being able to share that stuff with her that I learned, and then he's being able to share this stuff with me that he learned, and we all kind of have this little circle and it is actually really a good, positive experience. Um, and I I just find myself looking back every day. I'm like, huh, this is how it should have been the whole time well, and I think that that's really important.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, for people to hear is that there needs to be a break, right, I mean there needs to be a break in in in the bad action, because your story coming out, know, I get a lot of people on here that are like, oh, everything's been great, my career is so awesome, everything's so wonderful. But there's also stories of people that are like no, it sucked, man, like I wanted to quit, I hated it, it was terrible, but, you know, they were able to find a way through it, and usually it's because they change shops, they change shops, they change locations, they find a mentor, they find the right people. Um, and people need to hear those stories too, right, people need to hear the stories of like, hey, yeah, there's some places that are really bad, so that we can actually do something about it, because if we don't talk about the bad places there, there's never going to be any change, right?
Speaker 2:oh, and especially like the younger guys who start in these small shops. If they want to go off somewhere else and do it, say I was working with somebody here and they wanted to go to regina. What if they get into? You know one? Of those maybe not so great shops and they're like wow, this isn't what I was expecting at all. If I like, this isn't what I heard from reina, this isn't what I heard from you know, boss man, like there's taken aback entirely.
Speaker 1:So just to be prepared.
Speaker 2:It is definitely, yeah, it is definitely important to know like, hey, this is what you kind of need to look out for and this is a real thing, like I know you hear people talk about it, but it's, it's actually still out there, like there's some bad shops, there's some bad shops, there's some great shops, but Now your your experience, you know, with the chapters.
Speaker 1:You know, like when you came up to Canwell Fabtech, canada, you know you got to see the chapters at work, all the chapters from Canada getting together to talk and support each other and figure out what's going on. I, you know, I introduced you to some of the Alberta chapters that were going on with their projects and stuff. And here in Saskatchewan we've got a couple really, really strong chapters. I introduced you to them, you know, earlier this week. So, you know, do you plan on hoping to get involved, um, you know, with your local chapter? You know, because having strong young women be involved is exactly the type of things you need for the next generation to see and be able to trust. Right?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, and it is so much nicer, you know, not being well, I am in the middle of nowhere, but I'm also kind of not in the middle of nowhere because I'm in the middle of nowhere but I'm pretty close to Regina, I'm pretty close to Moose Jaw, I'm close to these centers and close to these chapters. So I definitely hope to be able to, you know, get in and attend these things and be there more well, and that's great because we do stuff in small towns.
Speaker 1:I'm in Moose Jaw next week, wednesday, working in Moose Jaw for a trades fair, and I think the Regina boys are going to be in Assiniboia at the end of May for an event there. And I mean, part of being in Saskatchewan is that we are very small town focused and so, to be a chapter, we can't just do stuff in Regina, we have to do stuff in small town Saskatchewan because they have programs, they have kids and a lot of small town Saskatchewan because they have programs, they have kids and a lot of small town Saskatchewan is actually scared of the city. They're like we don't want to come to Regina. It's like, well, that means we got to come to you, right, and it's funny because Regina to me is a small town, but to people from a really small town, regina is like the big city, right oh, I know, I was just there the other day and I was like losing my mind trying to navigate it bigger than I used to so what do you see for yourself now, in your future?
Speaker 1:do you see yourself getting your journey persons? Do you see yourself you know now that you're kind of finding the love for shop are you looking at maybe you know, like staying there for a while cutting your teeth and then seeing where it goes? What's the future look like for Rayna?
Speaker 2:The goal for a while has been to have my own shop. That'll be a few years down the road, like, I do want to get my journey person ticket. I want to go and get some more tickets, update my structural tickets as well soon, um, but that is the end goal is to get my own shop and run things. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do out here yet. Um, back when I was in alberta, like I was thinking more like custom fabrication stuff like that, which will probably still be the same thing here. Uh, but who knows where I'm gonna be in a couple years from now, what the demand and what the supply and demand is gonna be where I'm at, whether it's here, moose jaw, um, but that is the end goal is to have my own shop how do you feel about saskatchewan so far?
Speaker 1:do you feel like there's a saying in saskatchewan you better be careful, don't visit saskatchewan because you'll never leave. It happens a lot. Everyone makes fun of this place until they come live here and then they can't leave. You know how do you feel about it so far?
Speaker 2:I I see why they say that, because I did not think I was gonna like it this much. I'm not gonna lie, like I have been all over Canada except for, like you know, the middle section, all over, you know, western Canada, and then, like PEI in Ontario, and I was never nervous, I never had a second thought, like I just kind of went and traveled, did my thing, worked, whatever, happy. But I was actually nervous moving out here. But now that I'm here, like I was saying earlier, like it's that comfort, that even though it's so far from what I'm used to, what I grew up with, what I call home, it feels like home. I see why people say that.
Speaker 1:I've seen it happen to many of my friends visiting. I mean it's also like the, the it's the standard of living is easy, right.
Speaker 2:It's like you don't really stress about much, right, if you got a job, you're kind of doing good yeah, I did notice that there's more driving involved than what I'm used to, and I I drive a lot like even before I got here, like I drive a lot. But even just to you know, go get groceries it's. It's still more driving than I'm used to. So that's the one thing. That's a little, uh, a little bit of an adjustment.
Speaker 1:But well, it's funny you say that, because some people are like, well, don't you just take the bus or you know transit, like that's not really a saskatchewan thing, like I mean, out here it's like it's, it's kind of weird, but you kind of have to have a car. Yeah, I can't imagine getting by without a vehicle in small town, satchewan Cause, yeah, everything's pretty spread out. Like I go to Saskatoon all the time, I'm always going to Moose John. People are like, oh, that's two hours away or an hour away, like that's nothing, that's like just normal, like that's normal. My wife's parents are two and a half hours away, like it's just normal.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly like the gas stations, like I'm maybe I feel like a spoiled city girl, even though I'm not, but I feel like a spoiled city girl not having a 24-hour gas station or something.
Speaker 1:that's an adjustment in itself yeah, everything shuts down pretty early.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I am 10 hours away from any of my friends or anything. So yeah, but like I'm, I'm, I'm a 10-hour drive from any of my friends or anything. So yeah, but like I'm, I'm, I'm a 10 hour drive from any of my friends and family. So when people say, oh, it's a two hour drive, I'm like that was like a day trip. We used to go do that, to do groceries so yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1:well, I hope that we can get you, uh, more involved with some of the stuff that's going on in Regina and in the small towns in this area because you know we love having small town represented in our chapter but also to let people know that there is a life in rural Canada. Everyone feels that they have to move to the city to get a job, they have to move to the big centers to get a job, and if there's anything that I've learned in my career is that there's work everywhere. You just got to figure out where you want to live.
Speaker 2:Like I did not know that I was going to end up in Moss bank, of all the places I've been, so does anybody at your shop. No, I agree, it's really important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, does anybody at your shop, does anybody in your shop know about the CWB or the chapters or the association?
Speaker 2:no, not really, but they do now and they will good, good.
Speaker 1:I was wondering about that because, like I mean, um, the cwb sometimes doesn't have a great reputation in some parts of canada and it's like try to get the word back out into small towns, being like, no, we're actually like good, we're good people, we're not bad yeah so what are the next tickets you want to get?
Speaker 1:what are some of the certs that you feel that you need to move forward in your life? You know you said you want to get what are some of the certs that you feel that you need to move forward in your life? You know you said you want to get your journey persons update your structurals, but you know what other kind of work you said that you know like you wouldn't mind getting into the piping industry. Are you looking to like elevate your welding status as well?
Speaker 2:oh, of course. Um, I was looking at getting my beat pressure in alberta. I don't know what the equivalent is to that in saskatchewan, like I've. I have just got here, so I I haven't really looked into it too much, I don't. I don't know what the equivalent here of that would be, but like anything to do with, like pipe, um, I think that would be really cool yeah, and there's lots of work for it.
Speaker 1:I keep seeing postings for it all the time online. So there's definitely a lot of work. But you know what Milk this job? It sounds like you're having lots of fun in this shop and like I mean I want to come visit your shop. You got to send me the address and maybe I can swing by.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe even when we go down south for camping I can see if we can maybe swing by and take a look oh, you should, you definitely should, like, it's some cool stuff to see, um, and it's interesting the way that things are done, and um, yeah, I definitely think you should come check it out. I think that would be really cool. And then, um, yeah, I forgot what I was just going to say there. But yeah, definitely, when you're down here, come check it out, and I think I'll stick around the shop for a little while and see how things go from there.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, you know, before we wrap up the interview, I'm going to ask you a question that you've probably heard me ask a few times, but for your specific situation, I think that there's some, probably some good information I can get here and that would be for, you know, young women that you know maybe might be in the same situation. They got into welding, got into a skilled trades, because they hear about the money, they hear about the opportunity, but they don't realize, maybe, how rough it can be and how ugly some parts of the industry can be. You know what, what advice would you give a young woman that is starting to realize kind of these, these ugly sides of the industry?
Speaker 2:this is gonna sound terrible, but you gotta be meaner, like you have to keep an open eye and really be cautious about how people are disguising this and be meaner, like, don't be afraid to be like, no, this is wrong, and stand up for yourself, because that's something that I still struggle with. I still struggle with that, um, I mean, I haven't had to where I'm at now, but I I still struggle with not being able to, you know, step up and be like, hey, no, this is wrong. And, like you know, step up and be like, hey, no, this is wrong. And, like you know, be mean.
Speaker 2:You kind of have to be a little bit meaner when it comes to things, because if not you're going to kind of get walked all over. And in the bigger cities, especially like Lethbridge, you really have to be alert and realize kind of what people are saying and what they're doing. But it might not be so blatantly obvious as it would be in some shops like.
Speaker 1:So just keep your eyes open, don't be afraid to you know, be loud yeah, and you know, I think, I think a big part of it is, you know, establishing your boundaries. You know, you, you have boundaries as a human being and when someone crosses those boundaries, that's just not allowed, it's not negotiable, right no, absolutely, and you have to put your foot down or somebody's gonna put their foot down on you like and what about, for you know the welders out there looking for work.
Speaker 1:You know like you were able to to. You know network. I love your story because you basically were just talking to people in a bar and you found a job, but networking is such an important part of finding work and staying working. What would you say to young people about networking? You know, know, in terms of you know the Canwells, the chapters, or even, like in your story, just talking to people about the industry.
Speaker 2:Don't be afraid to talk to people. You know, any chance you get to go and do something whether it's career day or you know, go to the skilled trade shows or just trade shows in general, just trade shows in general get out there, go do them. You know, take any opportunity that you can to go to some sort of event or something. Talk to people, because everybody's got a story and it's funny, when we went to fabtech I can't, I can't remember the guy's name, but he had a really good speech on that whole networking and then like the, the degrees of separation on who knows who is. So it definitely comes into play when you're looking at getting into something. He had a really, really good speech on it. I I'd have to go back and look, but it was a really good speech on that. And just go talk to people, yeah.
Speaker 2:Go places even if you're scared, just clear yourself out there, talk to people, do the thing.
Speaker 1:Kind of step out of your comfort zone when you can. Yeah, sure, and I mean it's, it's, it is so true, my job wouldn't I wouldn't even be in this job if it wasn't for the networking in the chapters. So and it's, I think, a lot of us the longer you're in the trades, the more people you meet, old people, young people coming up. It all becomes like a big family. It's a big circle of life, right and uh, and people that you meet today can be the people that help you 20 years down the road. You have no idea. So you know, don't burn bridges, be friendly. You know, go out of your way to to support each other and and it all comes down, it all comes around in the end.
Speaker 2:I'm still good friends with the owners of the restaurant I was working at, and if I wasn't working at the restaurant there, I wouldn't have met these people. I wouldn't have met my current boyfriend and also my current boss. They're not the same person, but like it's just the way that that all kind of works out like all the way from crow's nest past to where I'm at now it's you never know who you're gonna walk into, who you're gonna meet and where you're gonna go from that. So awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks so much, reena, for coming on the show today. I very much appreciate you taking time to be on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. I was super nervous, so I hope I didn't butcher that.
Speaker 1:You did amazing, as amazing as everyone else does, because everyone's always nervous. It's all good, All right. And for all the people that have been downloading, sharing and being a part of the podcast, thank you so much for being with us on this fantastic trip through Raina's life. You know, if you get a chance, make sure you get out to Weld Industry Day in Red Deer, june 11th and 12th. On the 11th is the Weld Industry Day Conference and on the 12th we have a wonderful chapter day set up with tours of a local facility. We have a VIP parties and we got a number of college tours set up at Red Deer Polytechnic. So it's going to be a couple full days that it's going to be absolutely amazing. Registration is free and it's in Red Deer, alberta, so I hope to see you all there and until then, you catch the next episode here and on all streaming platforms anytime. Catch you at the next episode. We hope you enjoy the show.
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