Annemarie Shrouder looked out over the sea of white, middle-aged male faces gathered at the convention of Ontario’s building and construction trade unions, and stated the obvious.“I don’t see a lot of visible minorities or women,” the Toronto-based diversity and inclusion expert told almost 300 delegates and guests at the meeting in Niagara Falls this month.With more than 100,000 skilled trades people in Ontario set to retire over the next decade, “getting people into the trades is only part of the equation,” she noted. “The more important part is making sure the people you have, and those who will arrive, feel safe, are seen and stay.”Shrouder’s keynote address comes at a time when a union-sponsored pre-apprenticeship program has come under scrutiny from both the City of Toronto and the province for allegations of abusive behaviour and racist language. Hammer Heads, which helps disadvantaged young people gain access to jobs in the construction trades, lost its contract with the city in July 2017 following complaints from participants about program director James St. John, according to internal city documents obtained through freedom of information legislation.That same month, the provincial Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities put its funding renewal of the program “on hold” when, according to ministry documents obtained through a separate freedom of information request, it “became aware of allegations … Hammer Heads staff had subjected participants to comments of a harassing nature, racial slurs and intimidation.”After a ministry review, the province signed a new contract with the program this May, subject to Hammer Heads’ board of directors obtaining an independent review of its operations to be submitted to the government this week, according to an internal ministry memo.St. John declined an opportunity to speak to the Star, but through a spokesman denied he ...
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