Category: News

On this episode, the Grand Valley Construction Association (GVCA) sits down with Brenda Gilmore and Rosie Hessian from Conestoga College to learn more about this innovative program and how it’s helping increase the number of women in the skilled trades.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/deconstructed-by-the-grand-valley-construction/id1681884196?i=1000625390401

Read the full Dan O’Reilly Daily Commercial News article.

Two hundred and seventy female high school students received a hands-on introduction into the possibilities of the skilled construction, industrial and automotive trades at the brand new Conestoga Skilled Trades Campus in Cambridge, Ont. recently.

At the annual Jill of All Trades event on May 31, some of those students operated heavy equipment machinery, while others welded piping, installed drywall, repaired masonry or tried their hand at woodworking.

“It wasn’t, and never is, a case of the students simply listening to an instructor,” says the college’s Jill of All Trades director Rosanne Hessian.

Launched and initiated by Conestoga in 2014 and trademarked a few years ago, Jill of All Trades is a day-long educational fair with workshops and guest speakers designed to introduce Grade 9 to 12 female students into the benefits of a future in skilled trades and apprenticeships, primarily in Red Seal trades.

Conducted in partnership with 12 school boards in the southwestern Ontario area, the event featured 18 different hands-on-workshops in the construction, industrial and motive power sectors.

In the months-long planning lead-up to the event, the school boards were sent descriptions of the workshops which the students reviewed and then ultimately pre-registered for three.

The workshops were conducted by college faculty members, with the assistance of apprentices, sponsor volunteers and community tradespeople, says Hessian.

Beginning the day was a short primer on safety, including providing the students with personal protection equipment. They were also given T-shirts in distinctive orange and blue colours, which are the logo colours of Jill of All Trades.

While Conestoga hosted the event, set the agenda, lined up the instructors and resource personnel, the participating school boards selected which students got to participate. There is always a wait list, which means there is more student demand than the college can accommodate.

Counting the students, faculty members, apprentice mentors, business employee staffing booths and volunteers, there were probably 500 people in attendance, she says.

The keynote speaker was HGTV host Mandy Rennehan, also known as The Blue Collar CEO, and founder of Freshco, a full-service reconstruction and retail maintenance firm operating across Canada and the eastern U.S.

“We saw the need,” says Hessian, on why Conestoga launched Jill of All Trades in 2014.

In that first year 110 students took part and there were three workshops. Since then the program has expanded, gone national and may soon go international.

Through an active outreach initiative aimed at colleges offering skilled trades programs, six Jill of All Trades events were hosted across Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia in 2022.

By 2026, Jill of All Trades is expected to expand to 25 institutions across Canada, delivering more than 70 events specifically tailored to meet the employment needs of the geographic areas those colleges serve.

An example would be the extensive employment needs of the mining industry in northern Ontario, she says.

“We recognized that there was a need to promote women in skilled trades and to provide opportunities for young women to experience skilled trades. A network of community (college) partners will lead a movement that empowers young women to make informed career choices.”

Of course, all of those colleges were and are promoting skilled trades pathways for young women, but it was on an independent standalone basis.

“Jill of All Trades brings all of our communities together, across Canada. We’re all delivering the same message.”

Conestoga is also in the process of reaching out to community colleges in the U.S. and potential sponsors there are very interested in promoting women in skilled trades.

Jill of All Trades could not exist if it wasn’t for its network of North American, national, provincial and local sponsors, says Hessian.

Describing the May 31 event as “a fun and exciting day,” the college’s dean of trades and apprenticeship Suzanne Moyer, said it was also an opportunity to showcase the Skilled Trades Campus to the students who may be attending there in a few years.

Just opened last fall on Reuter Drive adjacent Highway 401, the first phase of the campus features a 29,914-square-metre building comprised of shops and labs.

“We expect to have 500 post-graduate students and 2,800 apprentices in the coming academic year.”

An official opening has been planned for Nov. 1, but details are still being hashed out, says Moyer.

Jess Allen, of CTV’s THE SOCIAL, spends the day learning skilled trades alongside young Canadian girls, eager to have a career in the industry, at Jill of All Trades.

https://youtu.be/UfDecOZtXvo

Conestoga has delivered a Jill of All Trades event annually since 2014. The event welcomes a group of more than 225 young women and another 225 guests made up of Conestoga faculty and students, apprentices, graduates and industry mentors as well as local school board representatives and teachers, partners, local sponsors and government representatives, to Conestoga’s trades campus to participate in a day-long event designed to introduce young women to the tremendous potential of careers in the skilled trades.

This hands-on experience for young women in grades 9-12 helps them better understand the transition to prospective careers in the trades so they can determine their secondary school course selection for future post-secondary education. Jill of All Trades encourages young women to consider the opportunities and benefits of a future in skilled trades and apprenticeships primarily in Red Seal* trades.

*The Red Seal, when affixed to a provincial or territorial trade certificate, indicates that a tradesperson has demonstrated the knowledge required for the national standard in that trade. The Red Seal endorsement promotes excellence to employers, instills pride in skilled workers, and facilitates labour mobility. Red Seal trades.

The event provides a safe and engaging learning environment, where female mentors and faculty engage participants in a unique “try a trade” opportunity. Young women are selected by their high school to participate and receive one-on-one female apprentice mentorship at the college while being exposed to several skilled trades including the motive power, manufacturing, and construction sectors.

NAIT welcomed nearly 100 female high school students to Main Campus on Thursday, Nov. 24 for a day of exploring the potential of careers in the skilled trades.

Jill of All Trades is an annual event that began in 2014 at Conestoga College in Ontario. Conestoga recently received support from national sponsors Owens Corning and Home Depot to bring it to a variety of post-secondary institutes across Canada and NAIT is pleased to be part of the first group.

Young women in grades 10 to 12 from Edmonton and Northern Alberta attended NAIT’s inaugural event. Attendees participated in up to 3 hands-on workshops to experience trades of interest. The workshops also connected the high school students with mentors—many of whom are female—who helped the students develop a better understanding of the benefits of a career in the skilled trades. Mentors included NAIT staff, alumni and members of industry.

The day kicked off with several guest speakers before the students broke out into the workshops offered by NAIT’s School of Skilled Trades. Workshops included Plumber, Electrician, Welder, Millwork (Cabinetmaking) and Carpentry, Heavy Equipment Technician, Auto Body Technician, Machinist/Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Technician, Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning Refrigeration (HVACR) Technician, Ironworker, Carpenter, Insulator and Glazier.

A recent report by RBC indicates more than 700,000 skilled trade workers are set to retire, creating a shortfall of at least 10,000 workers. The report goes on to say that women continue to represent less than four percent of workers in the most in-demand trades. Jill of All Trades aims to help decrease the skilled trades shortfall by encouraging more women to pursue careers in the trades.

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The Centennial College Jill of All Trades event is a special event dedicated to helping young women explore skilled trades as careers. The 2022 event saw 100 young women, in grades 7-12, come out to our Ashtonbee Campus to get hands-on experience with programs from our School of Transportation and School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science. They rolled up their sleeves, explored the facilities, applications, and equipment that Centennial students use to hone their skills while they learn. In this video, we speak to the team behind the event, and more importantly, talk to some of the students who took part.

Close to 240 young women in Grades 9 through 12 participated in Conestoga’s Jill of All Trades event on October 26, 2022 at the college’s Cambridge – Fountain Street campus. The event introduced young women to the opportunities of skilled trades careers.

Delivered through the School College Work Initiative and the college’s School of Trades & Apprenticeship, the event is designed to help girls better understand the potential of skilled trades careers. This year’s participants joined from 35 schools in 10 boards across southwestern Ontario. The event was supported by more than 260 volunteers, including industry partners, faculty and graduates. Students participated in a selection of 15 hands-on workshops led by mentors, including framing and insulation, welding, robotics, heavy equipment operator, and food processing.

“When I was your age, and before I was your age and after I was your age, there was no such thing as Jill of All Trades,” said Blue-Collar CEO Mandy Rennehan (Bear) to the girls in her keynote address. “This industry is full of so many opportunities and in between every single person in this room you are going to see a person that is your mentor.”

Founder of multi-million-dollar retail maintenance and construction company Freshco.ca, Rennehan is a sought-after speaker, philanthropist, award-winning entrepreneur and trade-industry ambassador. She is a lead advisor in the federal government’s national campaign to encourage apprenticeships and promote the skilled trades, and has received numerous business awards, including Canada’s Most Admired CEO, the Toronto Region Board of Trade Business Leader of the Year Award, the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Momentum Award and a Top 25 Women of Influence Award, and is a five-time winner of Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Award from the Women’s Executive Network. Bear is the host, designer and contractor for HGTV’s renovation show, Trading Up with Mandy Rennehan.

“You’re in a position right now to be the next role models of not only the trade industry, but you will be the next role models on how women show the world how they treat other people,” Rennehan continued. “And with that type of leadership, things will continue to grow, just like they did for me.”

A growing skills gap has emerged as the demand to keep pace with population growth and changing workforce demographics increases. Reports indicate more than 700,000 skilled tradespeople are set to retire by 2028. Canada needs more than 167,000 new apprentices alone to keep pace. According to Statistics Canada, women account for roughly four per cent of workers in under-represented skilled trades occupations.

About Jill of All Trades Conestoga College

Conestoga is a leader in skilled trades training for women. Through gender-specific programming and mentoring opportunities, the college assists and encourages women to pursue careers in under-represented and non-traditional occupations. In addition to Jill of All Trades, the college offers the Women in Skilled Trades (WIST) certificate program, supporting women to prepare for careers within the construction sector as general carpenters with the basic skills required to secure a position as an apprentice.

In 2021, Conestoga received support from Owens Corning Foundation to expand the delivery of Jill of All Trades to more locations. The program is expected to deliver 123 events across North America over the next four years, including six this year at post-secondary institutions in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Conestoga is a provincial leader in the delivery of trades and apprenticeship training to serve industry needs and growing communities. Comprehensive programming includes a wide range of programs that provide pathways to employment in skilled trades careers as well as pre-apprenticeship training and in-school training for apprentices. Visit the School of Trades & Apprenticeship for more information.

National Sponsorship – Jill of All Trades

Jill of All Trades 2022 is nationally sponsored by Owens Corning Foundation and Home Depot.

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WATERLOO — The RBC Foundation has committed $3.5 million over the next five years to support students and future programming at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College.

The collaboration is part of RBC Future Launch’s 10-year, $500 million commitment to helping Canadian youth prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. Graduates from these programs will have the capabilities to contribute to Canada’s skills revolution and be among the next generation of leaders in sustainability and the skilled trades industries.

The donation, announced Tuesday at the Perimeter Institute, will include $2 million to the University of Waterloo to help launch its new interdisciplinary degree program; the Bachelor of Sustainability and Finance Management.

RBC Foundation’s $650,0000 donation to Conestoga College will support the expansion of the Jill of All Trades program — a series of hands-on workshop events designed to introduce young women in Grades 9-12 to the potential of careers in the skilled trades such as automotive service, carpentry, masonry, welding, and electrical trades.

Wilfrid Laurier University will receive $850,000 to help fund research, teaching and experiential learning opportunities in the area of climate change management, to help prepare students for emerging careers in the ever-evolving climate industry.

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Industry businesses have come together to support women going into trades programming in Sudbury.

Cambrian College announced on Oct. 27 it’s awarded each of four recipients $1,000 scholarships toward their postsecondary education in the trades.

Sponsors contributing to the bursaries include Glencore, Manitoulin Transport, the Electrical Safety Authority, and IAMGOLD.

The scholarships were announced during the Sudbury college’s Jill of all Trades event, an annual day of activities geared toward girls and young women in Grades 7 to 12.

Attendees participate in hands-on workshops showcasing different trades, tour the college’s labs, and take in an address from a keynote speaker working in the trades.

The goal is to give young women a better understanding of and appreciation for the skilled trades, encouraging them to consider a career in the trades.

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It was a week of hammering away at misconceptions about women pursuing rewarding careers in the skilled trades.

Elementary and secondary school girls from across Greater Sudbury tried their hands at various skilled trades as part of Jill of All Trades.

Today, Cambrian College hosted its annual Jill of All Trades event at its main campus in Greater Sudbury. The event was hosted in partnership with the Rainbow District School Board and the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.

“I love everything about Jill of All Trades and what it stands for,” says Paula Gouveia, Cambrian’s Vice-President Academic.  “There is a significant labour shortage in the skilled trades and gender is no barrier to filling those positions. These careers pay very well, and we want more young women to take advantage of the opportunities available in the skilled trades, now and in the foreseeable future.”

More than 150 elementary and secondary school girls from across Sudbury got first-hand experience in a variety of trades and technology, including automotive service, carpentry, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, heating and air conditioning, heavy duty equipment, mechatronics, millwright, mining engineering, powerline, and welding and metal fabrication.

“The trades offer rewarding careers for all students,” says Bruce Bourget, Director of Education for Rainbow District School Board. “I thank Cambrian College for welcoming our students into their shops to explore the possibilities in this important sector of the economy.”

“As a school board, we are committed to providing learning opportunities for young women to embrace the skilled trades and to explore the many career options available to them,” says Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. “We are proud to partner with Cambrian College and others to offer this opportunity. We look forward to seeing participating students continue to push the boundary in skilled trades as a worthwhile future pathway.”

Some of the teenagers attending Jill of all Trades this year went the extra mile to get ready: make that the extra metre! They successfully completed Working at Heights training to heighten their experience.

Jill of All Trades activities at Cambrian also included a panel discussion earlier in the week featuring women currently working or preparing for careers in the skilled trades. Panelists included:

• Zoe Duhaime, Student, Powerline Technician Program, Cambrian.
• Natasha Faucher, Senior Director of Business Development – Mining, Minerals & Metals, Corporate, Business Development, Worley.
• Alex Kis, 310T Mechanic, Manitoulin Transport.
• Kendra Liinamaa, Millwright Apprentice, Vale, and a Cambrian graduate.
• Julia Salvalaggio, Manager of Human Resources, MacLean Engineering.
• Lea Willemse, Smelter Environmental Superintendent, Glencore.

The Women in Trades panel discussion was held this week at Cambrian College, Taking part were (left to right): Kendra Liinamaa, Vale; Zoe Duhaime, student at Cambrian College; Julia Salvalaggio, MacLean Engineering; Lea Willemse, Glencore.

“We just have to go for it, we absolutely belong in the trades, and we are needed in the trades,” said panelist Natasha Faucher, who began her career performing geophysical surveys around the world for mining companies.

“As women, we bring a different way of thinking, we don’t problem-solve the same way, and that can be an advantage.”

Cambrian College thanks its many sponsors who supported Jill of All Trades this year, including providing nearly $10,000 in scholarships for students who enroll in the skilled trades.  Cambrian College will take this a step further by offering further financial incentives for women enrolling in trade programs year-round. You can find the list of sponsors at www.cambriancollege.ca/jill-of-all-trades.

Cambrian College offers more than 20 trades and technology courses.

Learn more at  https://cambriancollege.ca/programs/.

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Skills Ontario to hold in-person International Day of the Girl Oct. 11 at Science North in Sudbury.

Several organizations in Sudbury are working to help encourage more women and young girls into skilled trades.

Across Canada, only about five per cent of skilled trades workers are women, according to Statistics Canada.

One of the organizations, Skills Ontario, partners with school boards, colleges, small businesses, large companies, labour groups, and governments to provide opportunities for young people to explore and develop skills for successful careers in the skilled trades and technologies.

For the first time since the pandemic began, Skills Ontario plans to hold its first in-person International Day of the Girl, planned for Oct. 11 at Science North in Sudbury. About 180 Grade 7 and 8 girls from the Sudbury area will learn about and explore job possibilities.

It includes the ‘For Girls, By Girls’ conference featuring keynote speaker Kendra Liinamaa of Sudbury, who is currently doing her apprenticeship to become a millwright. There will also be workshops that allow students to test out various trades.

Some students already have preconceived ideas about trades jobs, but this event works to change that, said Lindsay Chester, the program manager for Skills Ontario’s Young Women’s Initiatives.

“Change that stigma, change that mindset and give them an opportunity to try these different skilled trades careers and then in the end leave realizing that this is something that they are capable of doing, and then hopefully sparking enough of an interest that they continue to pursue that through high school and ultimately into a career down the road” she said.

Chester said it’s important for female students and young women first entering the trades to see visual representation of other workers like them.

“When we have the female tradeswomen, now the girls can kind of be like ‘Alright if she can do it I can do it,'” Chester said.

Cambrian College is holding a similar event at the end of this month called Jill of All Trades. Female high school students will be able to try out various trades and learn about viable career paths.

“What we try to do with this is just give them a taste of the skilled trades for a day,” said college spokesperson Dan Lessard.

Cambrian also has female instructors within its various trades programs — who become role models for the female students.

“Don’t let your perception of what you think girls can or can not do prevent you from exploring a really good career in the trades; that is going to be rewarding, is going to be challenging and quite frankly it’s going to pay you really good money,” Lessard said.

This year there are 294 female students enrolled in Cambrian’s Skilled Trades and Engineering Technology; ten more than in 2021.

Committee of tradeswomen advocating for women

In 2019, women in the industry formed the committee, Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen. They have more than 700 members, and advocate for the recruitment and retention of more women in the trades.

“We’ve got women from across the province, every trade, every region, every sector, we’ve got women all over the province. And we’ve got quite a lot of women up in Sudbury specifically,” said program director Kayla Bailey.

She has worked in the skilled trades for nine years as a journey-person, a steam-fitter, a welder and a gas-fitter in Toronto.

Kayla Bailey is a journeyperson, a steam-fitter, a welder and a gas-fitter in Toronto. She is also the program director for Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen. (Submitted by Kayla Bailey)

She said it was during a trip with her mother — who was in the trades herself — to a northern Ontario mine that changed her mind about pursuing a career in the trades.

“For me, it was life changing. I got to see the kinds of people that worked in the mine, the kinds of people that worked in the trades,” she said. “I saw a lot of people that were only a few years older than me, and they had good jobs, they had a good quality of life, they had nice cars and they had nice homes.”

Supporting fellow sisters

Bailey said prior to the formation of the Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen group, there was no provincial co-ordinated effort to to bring tradeswomen together.

“It also supports our fellow sisters in the trades, helping women find pathways and into registered apprenticeships and offering the soft skills training, the health and safety training and the experience, expertise needed to help women feel confident and to be successful in a male dominated industry,” Bailey said.

Bailey admits that one of the biggest barriers for women in the trades is confidence.

“It can be quite intimidating having your first job be in construction, but especially if you’re the only woman on site. We find a lot of women apprentices, they’re very nervous. They’re afraid to ask for help. They don’t want to cause a stir,” she said.

Bailey said it’s important for young women who are considering working in the trades to be encouraged by other women already in the field.

“Right now there’s such a huge labour shortage and it will not be filled by the traditional workforce that we’re seeing; It will not be filled by just white men,” Bailey said.

“So whether you’re a woman or you’re a racialized person or somebody else who doesn’t feel like you’re traditionally represented in the construction industry, you are what’s going to fill the construction industry workforce gap and there is a place for you.”

See source article.

Jill of All Trades event at Conestoga College, Cambridge Campus, May 2019.