By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario — November 7, 2018 — More than 350 delegates from all across the Canadian trades industry gathered together for the first-ever supporting women in the trades conference held at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront, in Nova Scotia.
Hosted by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF), the two-day event kicked off on Tuesday with the keynote speaker, Mandy Rennehan, a blue-collar CEO and founder of her company, Freshco.ca.
“Only three percent of individuals are women in the trades,” Rennahan said as she motivated women in the audience to further pursue their careers in the trades.
“At this keynote we have people flying in from all over Canada to really pool together, to start a campaign to what I call the blue-collar intelligence,” Rennehantold Global News in an interview.
With over 50 speakers, the event was reportedly sold out and packed with various panels motivating and supporting women in the different trades industries.
Although the conference discussed an array of trades, the automotive sector did have representatives in the audience and at the panels.
On the second day of the event they held a panel discussing employer perspectives. Michelle Nickerson from CSN Collision Centre was one of the five women in the panel discussing key elements that contribute to a welcoming workplace and what employers do to attract and retain female trades people.
The executive director of the CAF, France Daviault announced that she was pleased to have had members their from the auto sector council of Nova Scotia, that are also representatives from 3M Canada and NAPA Auto Care in the audience as well.
Super happy to connect with the automotive sector here at #swit2018 ! Thank u to the Automotive Sector Council of NS, @3M_Canada and @NAPAAutoCare for bringing automotive into the @CAF_FCA conversation. pic.twitter.com/WiGOLUN5Gx
— France Daviault (@daviault_f) November 6, 2018
