Status of Women Committee on May 5th, 2015

[Pat Perkins, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

I just want to know, in terms of age group, are you going to be targeting younger girls? We have very limited time; I'm so sorry. It's a great program, but I'd like to know whether you are going to target a younger age at any point. Is that what you plan?

[Anna Marenick]

The possibility is there. We're in our first few years of funding, so I think that we're still trying to figure out what will work. At this point we're likely looking at grade nine and up.

[Pat Perkins, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

That's really good. Thank you very much.

I will go back to Tammy because I think that you said the earlier they get involved, the better. As for the type of programming that you were doing, could you expand on what it is, at what age it's appropriate, and what types of exposures there are? Are you getting hands-on things? How is that working?

[Tammy Evans]

What CAWIC has been doing is partnering up with the school boards. We will actually go into the schools, into the elementary schools, and we'll have a career day at grade six, so we'll actually talk to them. We'll bring in tradeswomen to talk to them about trades at a very early age, but we're also encouraging the school boards, the schools, and the guidance counsellors to bring in the parents, because it starts at home, and that's really important.

We have to educate the parents, or not so much educate as bring awareness to the families because when the child comes home and is excited about maybe being an electrician, one of the parents, both parents, or whatever the family setup is, may say, “Oh, no, you're much smarter than that,” or “You won't earn enough money,” when in fact it has been proven that within five years of a university education and within five years of completing an apprenticeship program, the apprenticeship program is a six-figure income potential. Parents don't know this, neither do the kids, neither do the guidance counsellors, and neither do the teachers, so we have to get that message back into the schools.

[Pat Perkins, Conservative, Whitby—Oshawa, ON]

Regarding the industry awareness campaign, you say it's number one in the response for the data that you've been collecting.

[Tammy Evans]

From the employer side and from the female participants, they are saying that they weren't aware, and some of them weren't aware of the funding programs that are out at both the provincial and the federal levels. That's something that's important, so we help to share that information and we partner up with organizations to help share it, but there has to be more of that. The industry has to get involved in that, and actually, the industry, the employers, have to be aware that there are programs that support employers, and I think the message isn't getting to the employers.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Bateman, the floor is now yours for seven minutes.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so very much to all our witnesses for being here today and for sharing your time and expertise with us. What you're talking about matters so very much.

I see some recurring themes. Certainly there's the importance of starting early. There's the importance of making sure that parents support the child instead of saying, “No, you wouldn't want to do that.” There's also the importance of partnering with industry in areas of excellence and having the union support and work in partnership with the employer, with the employee, to the common good. I so very much value that we're working as a team.

I hope I have a chance to get around to everyone here, but perhaps I can start with Ms. Evans.

You mentioned in your responses to Mr. Barlow and Ms. Perkins that industry doesn't know about the good government programs. Families don't know and people don't know. What do you recommend for getting that message out?

[Tammy Evans]

I recommend a stronger collaborative effort with industry associations. I think we have construction industry associations right across Canada. We have the Canadian Construction Association, and all of the provincial associations are members of the Canadian association. Then you have geographical local construction associations.

If you involve those associations—the general contractors association, the road builders association—you actually raise the issue to a higher level and you put it on their agenda for discussion with their members.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

How do we reach the mother who, when the child comes home and says, as in your example, “Hey, Mom, I want to be an electrician”, replies and presumably while they're doing something else, “Oh, no, no”? How do we reach those parents?

[Tammy Evans]

I think you reach them through the education system. Education is mandatory, so why can't we reach them? If they don't want to come in, if we don't want to implement these programs through the province and then through the school boards, how about a paper campaign? How about something that has to be taken home to the parents, that raises the information and the discussion at home, at a level that is—

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

What age do you recommend for something that gets sent home with a child that the parents get to read?

[Tammy Evans]

Definitely by grade 6.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

By grade 6; so when the children have career days, parents get educated too.

[Tammy Evans]

Yes. Perhaps it's on “bring your parent day”, when your parent comes in. Maybe your parent works in an office, or....

I actually have two careers. I've put them together. I was a woman in construction, and now I'm a construction lawyer. I went to a career day not for my son but for my youngest son's classroom. I actually chose to speak about my career in construction and in law together—

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Oh, lovely.

[Tammy Evans]

—to show them that you can be anything you want to be. Yes, I'm a woman in construction: here are the plans, here is my hard hat, here are my boots. It made it real.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

How many people are you reaching through your school program?

[Tammy Evans]

In that particular program, it was 300. For the CAWIC program, we try to do it through the school boards.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

How many school boards are receptive to this, and how many are you actually able to visit?

[Tammy Evans]

I think they're all receptive. It's about organizing. We do probably four or five a year through the different school boards.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Four or five.

[Tammy Evans]

That could be....

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

So there are a lot more families and a lot more parents to reach.

[Tammy Evans]

Yes.