After 16 years of hosting Women in Trades classes, Okanagan College is shutting down the program after the provincial government pulled its funding.
Previously, women interested in trades were given a 12-week opportunity to test their skills in a variety of trades completely for free, allowing them to try new things before making any big money commitments.
“When we spoke with SkilledTradesBC, they acknowledged that our application was quite successful, we satisfied all the parameters of the program, and they were just simply in a position where they didn’t have enough money to fund all the programs that were running in the province,” said Stephen Speers, Okanagan College's Dean of Trades and Apprenticeships.
“I think it was as simple as that, and at this point, we are just incredibly grateful that we’ve had 16 years of funding and that that program has had a great impact here for us.”
In a statement to Castanet, the provincial government said contracts expired and SkilledTradesBC ran a new procurement process to ensure fair access to compete for funding.
Money that previously went to Okanagan College for the program is supporting similar programs elsewhere in B.C.
Former Women in Trades participant Kylie Cyr was devastated to hear the news, and says she would not be where she is today, in second-year carpentry, if it wasn’t for that program.
“With that 13 weeks of paid programming it was absolutely incredible and it definitely helped with the whole being dedicated to school thing and putting your all into it. So I didn’t have to worry about going to work afterwards or anything like that… Being able to have that all funded for, was absolutely incredible.”
Despite the loss, Okanagan College is doing what they can to provide alternatives to people interested in trades.
"We have lots of folks in trade programs and we are looking for avenues to provide more wraparounds where they are required in order to allow people to engage with the programming," said Speers.
Throughout it's 16 years at Okanagan College, the program successfully put approximately 1,500 women through the program and onto full-time jobs to start their careers.
