Event aims to inspire girls to pursue a career in the skilled trades

Skills Ontario hosted a special event at Linamar Thursday with the hopes of inspiring young girls to pursue a career in the skilled trades.

High school students from Guelph, the Region of Waterloo and Peel Region got to checkout different career options. 146 students registered for the event and were able to speak with workers from 18 different organizations, colleges and community partners.

"There's a very low percentage of women in the skilled trades,” said Lindsay Chester, the young women’s initiatives program manager for Skills Ontario. “We're still about 5 per cent across the country. So today is all about representation. It's about meeting other women in the industry and being able to see themselves in those roles."

Students heard from women in the trades and some of the challenges they’ve overcome.

"I'm having a great time,” Victoria Sousa, a grade 11 student at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary, said. “Everyone's really open and very passionate about their trades."

She loves working with her hands and being creative so she took advantage of the opportunity to check out many of the trades represented at the event.

"Talking to a woman who works at the Bruce Nuclear plant, and it just seems very enticing, like having some sort of job stability, but also working something bigger than yourself," Sousa explained.

High school students trying on gear at Skills Ontario's trades event at Linamar in Guelph. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

The event was also Skills Ontario’s first in-person International Women's Day celebration since the pandemic.

“It was a virtual event, so we're very happy to bring it in-person here to Guelph today," Chester said.

Students were surprised to see how many options they had to explore.

"It's advertised that we're able to go in trades and stuff like that, but it's not advertised how much there is and all the different opportunities," said Chloe Friedrich, a grade 11 student at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary. "I really want to be a pilot. I know that's not really a trade, but I really do like looking at my other options.”

"I get to see what other people are doing with their life," said Julia Zurkawski, another grade 11 student from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary.

Trains were one of the more popular options at the event, featuring Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

"I did look at the train conductor, and that's really cool," added Friedrich.

The rail company said things have changed over the years.

"I started with CP about 13 years ago, and I could count on my hand how many other women that I worked with in the field,” explained Nic Boilard, a signal design manager with Canadian Pacific Kansas City. “So getting an opportunity to actually get more women interested in the trades and really male-dominated spheres is awesome.”

According to Boilard, more women have now started working in the industry. She added that many of the students at Thursday’s event didn’t know about the options for working right out of high school and the available apprenticeships at CPKC.

"You can start with a high school diploma digging holes every day to working in head office, which is what I did," said Boilard.