At BCCWITT our vision is to create a thriving society with no barriers to women and members of other historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized (HPSM) groups who are seeking, securing, and succeeding in careers in the skilled trades. Trades that build, service, and maintain the province of British Columbia and that drive innovation, productivity, and growth.

Working as a non-profit under the umbrella of the BC Federation of Labour, we proudly work alongside governments, funders, unions, industry allies, and a network of leading trades employers (union and non-union) to help more tradeswomen and gender-diverse workers build rewarding careers in the trades, delivered through a range of ​program offerings and ​advocacy work.

We do this work together, driven by these core values, as outlined in our ​2025 Strategic Plan:

• • Accountability and Sustainability: We hold ourselves and each other responsible for ensuring the long-term sustainability and ongoing impact of the BCCWITT through the achievement of its mission and vision.
• • Equity and Inclusion: We take a worker-centered and trauma-informed approach to identifying and challenging the personal, organizational, institutional, societal, and systemic barriers that keep us, our participants, and the skilled trades sector from thriving.
• • Empathy and Respect: We acknowledge the intersectional identities and lived experiences of our colleagues, participants, partners, and allies; we value their unique perspectives; and we treat everyone with compassion, understanding, and dignity.
• • Collaboration and Community: We build and nurture healthy, reciprocal, and sustainable relationships founded on integrity, shared purpose, and trust at both personal and organizational levels as we work to expand and strengthen the network of participants, partners, and allies that support our mission and vision and share our values.
• • Solutions and Empowerment: We value curiosity and creativity, we make space for mistakes, and we seek opportunities to learn, adapt, innovate, and grow as individuals, as a team, and as a hub.

Our history

The BC Centre for Women in the Trades (BCCWITT) was created in 2018—following decades of advocacy from tradeswomen and allies—to take action on the chronic underrepresentation of women in British Columbia’s skilled trades sector.

The provincial government of the day responded to the years of advocacy work by launching a multi-phased Sector Labour Market Partnership (SLMP) project—funded by the Canada-BC Labour Market Development Agreement—which subsequently funded three keystone reports.

Collectively, the SLMP reports provided documented, empirical confirmation of the lived experience of tradeswomen and clearly articulated the need for programs and supports that would mitigate against the unique barriers women faced at each and every stage of a skilled trades career.

In 2018 the BC NDP minority government announced funding for two projects to address the findings and recommendations of the SLMP reports, with the clear goal of creating change in the sector. The BC Federation of Labour was awarded one of the two project contracts, which lead to officially launching BCCWITT on June 30, 2018 to do this critical work.

We, at BCCWITT, continue forward today by building on the passion and hard work that’s got us to this point…knowing there are still decades of work required to address the way gender impacts people’s participation in the trades. But we do so knowing that the path to building the stronger, more stable workforces that industries count on is work that will benefit people, families and the BC economy.