Date: 2015
Location: Fort McMurray
Profile: Catherine Canning, president (in 2024) of Unifor Local 707-A, is a Red Seal electrician who earlier served as 707-A safety representative for electronics at Suncor. Born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, she was raised on an Annapolis Valley farm where she worked in the woods and the barn. When she married, she moved to Victoria and then the Yukon where she became a heavy equipment operator at a mine. The mine closed and the couple moved to Ontario; after they separated, she worked at another Yukon mine before moving with her second husband to Fort McMurray. When her first son was born, she took low-wage work at Walmart before operating equipment at Clemkey Mining. She shifted to Suncor as a heavy equipment operator, seeking work hours consistent with her childcare duties. After her second child was born, she returned to Suncor, taking an electrical apprenticeship. Once becoming a journeyman, she agreed to be the safety rep and also joined the union’s women’s committee. Involvement in an investigation of a co-worker who died on the job strengthened her resolve regarding safety issues. She loves her well-paid work but notes that the representation of women in the trades is “still very low.”
Keywords: Apprenticeship; Clemkey Mining; Electrician; Heavy equipment operator; Local 7-A, Unifor; Safety representative; Suncor; Women’s committee; Yukon mines.
Interview Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Women in Skilled Trades in Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta; Unifor