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Justin Trudeau:
I didn't know my mom suffered from mental illness until I was well
into my 20s. When I look back, I remember looking through an old
photo album with her where I point at the picture and I said "Oh,
mom. You were so skinny then." She goes "Yes, I was really fighting
depression at that moment." It was like a light went off. I must have
been in my mid-to-late 20s or something. We didn't talk about it
ever as a family or as a society, and what we've seen in the
advances of de-stigmatization of people coming forward and sharing
their stories and sharing their struggles, one of the things that
excites me so much is when I do the town halls I do right across
the country. At most of the town halls, someone will stand up and
And very excited about the leadership that you've shown on this. ask a question and share their own story of themselves or a family
On Indigenous Peoples in particular, there is a lot of work that we're member struggling with mental illness, and most of the time it's a
doing on giving them greater opportunities in the building trades, in young person standing up to talk about this. This change in attitude-
organized labor because that economic opportunity is essential for this more supportive approach is wonderful, but the challenge is
their own success and their community's success. also if more people are willing to step forward and say "I need help.
Can you give me help," we need to be providing that more help. It's
Peter:
something that government needs to do, our health systems need
It is projected that Canada will need approximately 250,000 skilled
to do, our workplaces need to do, our organizations and support
tradespeople over the next several years in Canada. Women make
organizations and advocacy groups need to do a better job of our
up over 50% of the population yet account for three to four per cent
education systems. There needs to be a holistic approach where
of skilled trades workers. The CBTU invest heavily in training
everyone understands that we all have a role to play on that. We
including developing mobile training units that can travel to more
were very pleased that for the first time we were able to sign health
remote communities and deliver training right there. One of our
accords with all the provinces that included that five or $6 billion
affiliates is proposing to build a school in Ottawa in which training
specifically for mental health for the first time in Canada, but we
will be delivered through virtual and augmented reality, allowing
know there's an awful lot more to do, more investments in mental
anyone anywhere to tap into skilled trades training. How will your
health supports, more investments in the kinds of community and
government identify and break down barriers like lack of training
family supports that people so desperately need.
facilities to encourage more women and Indigenous populations to
consider the skilled trades? I am incredibly proud to be my mother's son. The work that she has
done in advocating for better supports, challenging mindsets and
Justin Trudeau:
old ways of thinking, and demonstrating that the level of opportunity
Well I think getting more young people of all backgrounds and all
to contribute, to be fulfilled and successful regardless of challenges
profiles to consider the skilled trades is something that we all share
you might face are there. We need to do a better job as a society of
as a country and as organizations. That's one of the reasons why
doing it. We've taken some really important steps, but there's a lot
we've launched a massive ad campaign encouraging Canadians
more work to do. And on this and on so many different things, that's
consider the trades, but we know that there are further barriers to
really our frame right now, that over the past four years we've done
women, to Indigenous Peoples, to marginalized communities to
a lot of really, really good things, but there's so much left to do.
access training. So mobile training, awareness campaigns,
There is so much more to do and we recognize that we've got a
mentorship, virtual approaches, these are all parts of it. We've
good momentum going, but we need to be able to continue.
created significant specific programs to get women into the trades,
to get Indigenous Peoples into the trades. There's a lot more to do, And that's what we're focused on.
but we're beginning to see a change in the profile of people stepping
forward. On the flip side, there are things that the federal
government can do around procurement like mandating a certain
percentage of women on a job site, on a federal construction project
that we're looking at. There's a lot of things we can do to incentivize
communities and quite frankly contractors to make sure that they're
hiring more women for their workforce.
Peter:
This last question is very important to me because I have seen
personally how mental health issues effect families, and I actually
have had the opportunity to have lunch with your mother previously.
Mental health is a pressing issue and one that requires a lot more
attention. Your mom does great work around this issue and has
helped raise the bar in terms of awareness, reducing stigma, and
recognizing how important it is. What are your thoughts?

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