Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, as part of celebrations for the Northwest Territories first official Apprenticeship Week, I would like to announce yet another first - the beginning of a new project called Construction Trades for Women.
Construction Trades for Women is a pilot project to introduce young women in the Yellowknife area to careers in construction technologies. The pilot project is a partnership initiative sponsored by North of Sixty Women in Trades and Technology. This project also has the support of the NWT Status of Women Council, the two Yellowknife school boards, Human Resources Development Canada, BHP, the NWT Chamber of Mines, the NWT Construction Association and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
Mr. Speaker, 24 young women in grades 10 and 11 will spend two years learning about the construction trades. The project consists of after-school training in various skills such as carpentry, plumbing as well as computer-assisted design. The courses are taught by Melanie Ridgely, who was one of the NWT's top graduating apprentices in 1995, as well as the winner of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's 1995 Woman Construction Apprentice of the Year Award.
Trades provide excellent opportunities for a lifelong career. The Construction Trades for Women project is an excellent start for these young women who wish to pursue careers in this area. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish them every success. Thank you.
--Applause