‘My own contribution’: the Ottawa immigrants learning to retrofit homes and fight the climate crisis

A Canadian social enterprise hopes to help solve the urgent need for retrofits and shortage of skilled workers

J

ohn Mava was looking for work when a construction project started behind his house. When he visited the site and saw how different construction was in Canada compared with his native Nigeria, his interest was piqued.

“I said it would be great for me to have knowledge about this,” said Mava, who learned that in Canada, construction uses timber rather than bricks and has a focus on the environment.

The experience led him to apply to the YMCA’s Power of Trades programme and through that he became one of the first hires at Build, a new social enterprise by the Ottawa non-profit EnviroCentre.