The Robertson Building

In the last issue of the Robertson Pipeline, we got up close and personal with A Commitment to Training and Education for Women (ACTEW, Suite 350). As a natural segue, this spring we will be spending some time with ACTEW's roommate the Toronto Training Board (TTB) learning what makes this dedicated organization tick.

ACTEW and TTB are co-located on the third floor at 215 Spadina where they share a space, a history, and a philosophy about access to employment and training opportunities. TTB's Executive Director Karen Lior spent many years creating ACTEW from the ground up. Now she spends her time working diligently to maintain and strengthen the TTB; one of the last vestiges of a national labour force development strategy that began in the early 90s with the creation of the Canadian Labour Force Development Board (CLFDB). The CLFDB was dissolved in 1999, leaving only the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board and twenty-one local boards in Ontario. As Karen explains, "on the Canadian Labour Force Development Board there were eight labour seats, eight business, two education and trainers, four equity, and an aboriginal seat. It was the first time that all these parties came together on a consensual decision-making basis to look at national issues around labour adjustment, low employment, how to recognize off-shore skills and credentials, among others. They did a lot of research and some really good work." TTB has continued this work in their local catchment area of Toronto (which includes Etobicoke and Scarborough).

TTB is funded jointly by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and Human Resources Social  Development Canada. The local training boards were originally created to implement training and adjustment programs, and to look at skills development, employment, and the needs of unemployed workers. Their mandate changed in the late 90s to performing local area environmental scans to identify the needs and services required and to develop an inventory of local programs and services (available on the Internet. The TTB continues this
inventory work in connection with 211 Find Help Toronto and the Possibilities Project.

The Local Boards also deliver a Trends, Opportunities and Priorities Report. This report is an examination of what the local issues are and what's happening in the city. "We create a City of Toronto profile, with labour market information, population, and what's happening; what the jobs, trends, and issues are. Then we identify initiatives on the ground that respond to those issues and where we can plug ourselves in, or do something new." The "do something new" is usually forged in a series of partnerships that the board is funded to implement every year.

TTB has been instrumental in putting some valuable tools in place through their partnerships. After identifying the
difficulty for internationally-trained teachers to find work in Ontario classrooms, they held a think-tank bringing 
together all the stakeholders, which resulted in the Teach in Ontario project.  Three thousand newcomers
"were able to access a website that provided information in more than 167 countries around their skills and
credentials. It also outlined the process to get certified to teach here in Canada. Four assessment centres have
been set up where people can go to have their qualifications reviewed and colleges have made enormous policy
changes to help people get into the classroom." The project was very successful and over seventy-five per cent of those who were certified are currently working in the school system.

The TTB works on six partnerships annually, which has included joint ventures with the Somali Youth Association of Toronto (SOYAT) and produced a pamphlet on the conditions of precarious employment (much of the work available to immigrant workers is part-time, contingent, and does not provide benefits). The pamphlet accompanied a panel discussion on the issue in Toronto presented by speakers from the Alliance on Precarious Employment based at York University.

As the organization gains maturity there is the hope that they will be able to conquer some new ground by
producing a publication for every partnership. The Board will also continue to partner with others to work on vital
issues affecting the Toronto labour force. Being in their new space with their ACTEW colleagues has also added a lot to their basic operations. "It's amazing - I think there's a unique synergy amongst all of us who work in this space. We're seven women who come in and out, of all ages from fifty five to probably twenty five, yet there's enormous
respect and collegiality. If people have questions I can't answer I'll send them to see Jen Liptrot [ACTEW Executive
Director] and vice versa. We have a resource centre that we haven't quite amalgamated, but ACTEW's is probably
the most complete resource centre around women's training and employment issues in the country, and ours is pretty good too. I think we're really privileged to work in this environment."

For more information on the Toronto Training Board, including the Trends, Opportunities and Priorities Report, visit:
www.ttb.on.ca