(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - Ten years ago, Nancy Darling wrote a proposal to the federal government hoping to start a program aimed at recruiting individuals who normally wouldn’t consider trades as their future.

She says her need to help these groups came from her own past.

“I came from a family that was very trades orientated,” Darling says. “My thought was; we need to help women and level the playing field.”

She’s now Women In Trades Training Program Administrator at Okanagan College and it’s no longer just a matter of rounding out trades, it’s becoming a necessity to supply enough workers for likely future shortages.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of retiring trades workers outweighs the number of people entering the industry. Darling says recruiting not only women but other underrepresented groups into trades is important in.

“We need as many skilled trades people as possible,” says Darling. “We need to stop training the usual suspects and throw the doors open to youth, First Nations, women, people with disabilities, immigrants and older displaced workers."

Since the program first opened its doors in 2009, they have trained almost 1,000 women in different trades. In 2014, the Globe and Mail suggested B.C. would need to fill almost 7,000 positions for heavy equipment operators. Darling says the program enrols a high number of indigenous students as well.

In Kamloops, School District No. 73 officials are also doing their part in preparing youth for skilled trades opportunities and making sure underrepresented groups have a designated spot in the program.

The school board is currently getting ready to launch its tenth annual Heavy Metal Rocks program. Starting today, 26 Grade 11 and 12 students will begin a three-day heavy equipment operators program at the Tk’emlups Indian Band Gravel Pit.

The program’s chair and District Vice Principal of Trades, Ron Collins, says the program is a great way to introduce students into the industry. Of the 26 students participating, four spots are set out for females and another four for indigenous students.

“We are seeing more and more students applying,” Collins says.

During the three-day period, students get a chance to learn to use different types of heavy equipment machinery.

“We take them out to the pit… and they get to rotate through 13 stations and spend an hour and half with operators at each station,” Collins says, adding that the program gives students an opportunity they normally wouldn't get in traditional classes.

Darling says it is programs like these that will help recruit more underrepresented groups into the trades industry.

“My goal is to help these people who weren’t well represented,” she says, adding that even if they don’t stick with trades, it at least opened the door to someone who normally wouldn't have tried it.

“We want to give everyone the opportunity and tools they need,” Darling says.

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