A few years ago, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.'s (CPR) Engineering Services department began a campaign to support women employees in the department and encourage more women to consider careers in engineering.
One of the first projects they developed was a company-wide Women's Forum, an event which gives women employees the opportunity to network, share their experiences, and learn more about the career development opportunities available in engineering services. The railway also launched a three-year scholarship program for women enrolled in railway conductor training programs at local colleges in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver and have hired recipients to full-time jobs at CPR once they graduated.
CPR has also recently established full-time and backup childcare programs in major offices nationwide, operates a women's community outreach group, and hosts regular workshops, focus groups and interviews with women employees to gather their feedback on how to make CPR a more attractive and supportive workplace environment for women.
"I have been part of the hiring process for track labourers for three years now and I'm starting to see more women coming into the interviews to start a career with CP in the Operations areas...We can't expect things to change overnight, but every little extra thing that we can do counts and will help us reach our ultimate goal, one step at a time."
— Melissa Poupart, Track Labourer and Machine Operations / Technician, Engineering Services Department
