New office opens in Edmonton to help women get jobs and advance in skilled trades

Office to Advance Women Apprentices (OAWA) opens first Alberta location in Edmonton. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

Female Grade 9 students from Parkland School Division got a chance to experience what the trades have to offer.

"I am kind of interested in it because my mom’s a carpenter," said Sydnee Howe, a student from Blueberry School. "My mom and my dad both have done stuff like that and I kind of already know how to do a lot of the stuff we’re learning today," she added.

Held on International Women's Day, it also marked the grand opening of a new Office to Advance Women Apprentices (OAWA), its first location in Alberta.

"We know that across Canada the average of women working in the trades, the skilled construction trades, sits on an average of about seven per cent," said Emma Pollard, OAWA Alberta's project director.

The goal of the OAWA is to open doors for more women to get into the trades, but help them advance their careers.

"The 39 main construction and manufacturing red seal trades, a lot of our key components are in there so that’s your carpenters, your electricians, your millwrights, there is an area to support equipment operation," said Pollard.

The office also offers networking support and help connecting with employers.

"Let’s utilize that workforce to help combat our labour shortages that we’re facing," she said. "As well, let’s provide these opportunities to women to make a fair wage, a good earning wage, to support their families."

"I think it’s very helpful and I think it’s a very effective thing to have," said Howe.

The Grade 9 student hopes it will help break down barriers women sometimes face when entering the trades.

"I feel like it will be a lot easier when I’m older," she said.

The Carpenters' Regional Council received $2.35 million from the federal government to open the office through the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy Women in Skilled Trades Initiative.

"Our investment today is putting women at the forefront in skilled trades training and supporting them to succeed in rewarding, high-paying construction and manufacturing trades that will help build the country’s housing supply," said Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages in a news release.

The first OAWA office was established in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2009 by the Carpenters Local 579. There are now offices in seven provinces across the country.

Alberta will add two more locations: one in Fort McMurray this summer, the other in Calgary in early 2025.