BCWCA executive director Leesa Matwick was invited to attend the Skills BC competition held at BC Place June 5-8, 2013 and was struck by the absence of representation of the wall and ceiling trades.

“Wall and ceiling trades are not represented at all in the Skills competitions,” says Matwick. “This made me start thinking about how we could get our name and our trades out there as viable career options.”

More than 500 participants competed in 40 skill areas at the 2013 event, showcasing some of Canada’s premier trade apprentices in action. She felt inspired to explore how the BCWCA could establish a presence at future events.

Part of the discussion, says Matwick, is recognizing the short-term objective of generating interest and excitement around a career in the wall and ceiling trades among the highschool aged kids, and the long-term goal of establishing a greater general presence for the wall and ceiling trades among educators.

“Where we need to look is whether there is a long-term gain of having our trade in their heads,” she says. “If we continue to press them with information like other trades do, the long-term results could be big.”

Wall and ceiling trades have always been somewhat elusive in that there is a general perception that they fall in with carpentry.

“Students and maybe even educators are unaware,” says Matwick. “The long-term goal in creating that awareness could be significant.”

Amber Papou, executive director for Skills Canada BC, says two to three new trades join Skills Canada competitions each year, each opening 13 seats for competitors.

To become involved, the BCWCA would be responsible for forming a Provincial Technical Committee (PTC), which would oversee the development of a scope document outlining the parameters of a competition, the project, technical requirements, judging guidelines, and participant and industry responsibilities.

The PTC would submit the document to Skills Canada BC by January for review and Skills Canada BC’s support in facilitating the competition and its required resources. If everything came together, the first wall and ceiling competition would be held at the 2014 Provincial Skills Canada BC Competition April 9 at the TradeX in Abbotsford.

Another opportunity BCWCA is exploring is involvement in the First Hand Activities demonstration (Try-A-Trade is the national brand), which brings students in first hand contact with the trades represented at the event. Industry volunteers offer up a small project at a booth and students are invited to stop by and try out the tools of the trade completing the project.

Matwick says she’d love to see BCWCA support in putting both the competition and First Hand Skills demonstration together. “If we are going to go in, let’s go in with a bang,” she says. “Having students walk by a bunch of apprentices in the competition may still not bring awareness of our trade. We have to give them the opportunity to pick up a drill and actually see what we do. This would be important for long-term impact.”

The effort would have to be concerted in bringing information about the BCWCA training program and Red Seal Installer program to the forefront of students’ and educators’ awareness, says Matwick.

“Reaching out to highschool employment counsellors and other placement agencies might come through and ensure students have access to information about the trades,” she says.

“We have to take it to the next level and change the perception of our industry in the minds of the construction industry overall. We have to think about how we educate people, how to share information about trades training to fill the huge empty spaces in the workforce, and how to paint a positive picture of our industry.”

The membership can support the association’s potential involvement by continuing to see the benefit in trades training and the Red Seal program, and by stepping forward to participate on the PTC.

“Most of our members recognize that it’s good to have Red Seals on the job,” says Matwick, “and it would be great to have everyone recognize the value of training their employees. It’s an investment in the trade.”

The PTC will require six to eight people to come together and help prepare the scope document. “Ultimately, the end result down the road would be that the BCWCA would be able to proudly represent a BC Wall and Ceiling candidate in the Skills Canada competition,” says Matwick.

If BCWCA were to participate, its apprentice competition would be considered a pilot the first year and a demonstration the second year. “After that it would automatically be recognized as part of a national competition,” says Papou.

National involvement would require wall and ceiling apprentices from at least six provinces to participate.

“Our trade is not represented at all right now,” says Matwick. “It’s a long road ahead of us and it would require a lot of relationship building across the country to get to that point.”

The hope for now is that BCWCA takes the lead on creating a presence in the Skills Canada BC competitions, and reach out to other associations Canada-wide in future events.

“BCWCA is well-positioned to take the lead because we are unbiased, with union and non-union contractors as members,” she says. “I feel like this can really add value to our membership. I’d like to invite our members to participate in the pilot and see if we can get something running.”
Papou says each PTC is responsible for determining the scope of the competition and deciding on the resources needed to make the competition a success.

“The PTC sources supplies, funding or donations, and human resources and our office provides assistance wherever possible,” says Papou. “We also ask the PTC chairs to introduce us to members who may be able and willing to assist with the overall operation of the competition.
“We don’t charge a registration fee, but we do ask industry to assist, if not in kind or with donations or services then in funding partnerships.”

The Skills Canada BC office is prepared to walk BCWCA through the process and Papou says opportunities for the wall and ceiling industry are plentiful.

“I can’t think of any industry that is not approaching a skills shortage imminently or in the future,” she says. “Here is an opportunity to provide information to students and to encourage them to explore some careers they may not know of.”

Matwick says now it the time to begin thinking about the best way to involve BCWCA in these types of opportunities.

“We have to think about finding long-term solutions for bringing awareness to our trade,” she says. “Who are the partners we should be interacting with today? This isn’t a quick fix for tomorrow, but if we’re not putting one foot forward today, we may be looking back later and saying now it’s too late. We want to be able to look back and say we’ve made every effort to educate everyone about our trades.”

For more information or to express interest in supporting the BCWCA’s involvement in Skills Canada BC activities please call or email the BCWCA office at 604.575.0511 or admin@bcwca.org.