WBF Student at WBF training facility (photo courtesy of Women Building Futures)

By Liam Verster

Trades Training

Trades training opportunities for women coming to Grande Prairie

Dec 16, 2019 | 3:30 AM

A partnership between Pembina Pipelines and Women Building Futures will see more skills training offered in Grande Prairie for women who want to learn a trade.

Pembina is investing $200,000 in Women Building Futures over the next two years, to help establish the Edmonton-based organization in Grande Prairie. Women Building Futures will start reaching out to women interested in trades in the region by holding Tools for Success Workshops, math refresher classes, and foundational learning courses, starting in the new year.

The Director of Stakeholder Relations with Women Building Futures, Jess Thomson, says these Tools for Success workshops are opportunities that will be especially beneficial to women facing barriers.

“They’re about five-day workshops that would support women around readiness building for careers in the trades, support them with some math refreshers, and help them with their application into the program.”

“They’ll also be supported with foundational learning on acceptance to the program, and what that does is it allows women to spend three weeks learning trades, math, and science, so they can write the highest level of their AIT Exam, which means upon graduating from the Journeywoman’s Start trade program, they’ll be able to pursue a career in any trade, and have that exam finished and completed.”

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The program Thomson refers to is Journeywoman Start, a hands-on multi-trade exploration program, that teaches students introductory skills in welding, carpentry, sheet metal, electrical, plumbing and pipe-fitting/steamfitting. The program also prepares students for success as entry-level workers in the construction and maintenance industry.

The Journeywoman Start Grande Prairie program is funded by the Government of Canada Women in Construction Fund, and starting in the spring, will be available at the Grande Prairie Regional College.

Thomson says it’s important to offer these kinds of programs and opportunities, especially because women are so under-represented in the trades.

“Right now in Alberta, we have about four per cent of folks working in trades (that) are women. And we know that going into 2025, there’s going to be a significant trade shortage. And so it’s important that we’re helping women to see themselves in those roles, and see those roles as an opportunity for them and careers for them.

“it’s important that we’re working with employers as well to start seeing the value that women bring and how a diverse and inclusive workplace becomes a more successful workplace for all.”

Jodie Colbert, the District Manager for the Deep Basin District with Pembina Pipelines, says they are very happy to be partnering with Women Building Futures .

“We’re very committed to the successes of the communities that we operate in, and this program really struck home for us. It’s a way for us to invest in these communities and really help improve the economic resiliency of the women in and around here, and really give back that way.”

She says the company is very open to diversity and equal opportunity, and having a way to help improve that in the community is a great honour.

Colbert adds that there’s a generation that will be leaving the workforce soon, and it’s important to incentivize people to get the proper education and fill those roles.

The five-day workshop that introduces people to the program and offers preliminary training runs from January 6 to 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Community Futures Grande Prairie. A second week-long workshop will go at the same time and place from January 13 to 18.

The spots in the Journeywoman Start program in Grande Prairie are limited, and applications are now open.