Mining giants in Sudbury, Ont. say they're working to encourage more women in the trades
CBC
Mining giants Vale and Glencore say their operations in Sudbury, Ont. don't meet the industry average for women in the workforce, but they're working to change that.
Gord Gilpin, Vale's director of Ontario operations, said women represent about 16 per cent of the workforce in mining. At Vale's Ontario operations, about 14 per cent of employees are women.
Gilpin was a panelist at Cambrian College's Jill of All Trades industry panel on Oct. 26, to discuss ways to encourage more women to work in the trades.
"We're recognizing that we've got a huge potential to broaden our candidate pool of talent," Gilpin said.
"It is well understood that diverse and inclusive bodies of people who collectively shape and make decisions, make better decisions."
Dustin Ceretti, Glencore's mine director in Sudbury, said women represent 10 per cent of the company's workforce in the northern Ontario city.
He added women represent only 2.5 per cent of the company's operations and trade group in Sudbury.
"That's only 17 women," Ceretti said.
But he added Glencore is working to showcase the opportunities a career in the trades can offer, and the company currently has 53 skilled trades openings in Sudbury.
"We know that upper mobility opportunities for advancement are high within that group," Ceretti said.
"And we have two individuals that I'll call out who have gone from a trades role up to supervisor or higher in the last year."
In 2018 Glencore Sudbury didn't have any women on its senior leadership team, but now 25 per cent of its senior leadership is female, he added.
Panelist Joan Strawn, the health and safety co-ordinator with Damisona Roofing in Sudbury, said the trades were looked down upon by society for a long time.
But she said that is turning around.
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