Preparing for takeoff

“Bombardier has been an amazing partner,” says Anna Sommer, BFA 94, MBA 16, program coordinator at the Institute for Co-operative Education. Sommer created the WIE-CLE template for Bombardier. “They wanted to do something much more concrete and this was a great way to start — as far as we know this is a completely unique program.” 

Jade Dagenais, BComm 20, the Women in Engineering internship program lead at Bombardier, agrees. “This is a very special program because of the mentorship and networking aspects,” she says. “Our interns have their work supervisors, but we also match each of them with their own mentor. Through roundtable sessions, interns get to connect and speak with various people in engineering.” 

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, all internship activities are being held virtually. Participants are given full access to Microsoft Teams, including private channels for interns and mentors to network and discuss the program. Interns additionally have access to the LinkedIn Learning platform to benefit from a wide variety of courses and workshops. 

While the situation may not be ideal, Dagenais says every effort is being taken to give the interns a rich and fulfilling experience. “Our program is new, so it is still flexible,” says Dagenais. “Our team is very open and we’re giving the interns the opportunity to tell us what they want from the program. If they want to meet the vice-president of Engineering, no problem, I’ll make it happen.” 

For their final project, the interns were tasked with identifying systemic barriers for women in engineering at Bombardier.

“We asked our interns to look for any barriers they may have experienced or seen during their internships and how they impact the role of women in engineering,” says Dagenais. “We also wanted to know what they recommend be done to ameliorate or completely remove these barriers.” The interns presented their final project to senior management on December 8, 2020. Company employees attended the virtual presentation as observers, and recordings of the event were shared internally to raise awareness and encourage others to join the program as mentors. 

Closing the gender gap 

Engineering has one of the biggest gender gaps of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, with women making up less than 13 per cent of working engineers in the country, according to Engineers Canada. This is especially troubling because, as the organization notes, the country could be short by as many as 100,000 engineers by 2025. 

“The industry needs more talent,” says Sommer. “Women’s enrolment in engineering programs is already quite low and that number drops off intensely as they enter the industry. “Through this Women in Engineering program, Concordia is looking to create a happy bridge between the two and help female students succeed.” 

Sommer believes WIE internship programs will help attract more women into university engineering programs and improve the industry’s ability to recruit and retain women engineers.

Sheikh Alsouk adds that an internship has the power to either inspire or alienate women from wanting to work in the industry. “A lot of organizations are good at hiring women or minorities, but once they are hired there are few measures in place to make them feel welcomed and valued,” she says. 

“Having done an internship myself, I understand how the experience can mould you. It has the potential to give you strength and inspiration, or it can kill your ambition. That’s why we prepared our mentors to support our interns and help them thrive in our organization.” 

Genesis of the program 

The idea for the WIE program came from Claude Martel, BA 85, MA 92, PhD 09, director of the Institute for Co-operative Education. 

“Claude recognized that there was a shortfall of talent in the area of diversity and that women have a hard time entering the engineering industry,” explains Sommer. “I think it was in August of 2019 that he asked me if there was a way of creating a program to help address this issue.

“I researched the topic extensively and developed the structure for a program that would help bridge the student experience from education into the workplace. This would allow them to go into their early careers with more confidence and a better understanding of the barriers they might encounter.”

Once the template for the program was developed, Sommer began reaching out to various industry partners to see if there was any interest. “Bombardier was one of the first organizations I contacted,” she recalls. “I spoke with Marco Beaulieu, head of University Collaboration at Bombardier, and right away he saw the value of the program.” 

Jade Dagenais had just finished her own internship at Bombardier and had been hired by Beaulieu to work on the company’s extensive internship program — a collaboration with some 30 post-secondary institutions with the goal of supporting 1,000 paid internships per year — when Sommer approached them with the WIE-CLE program. 

“As soon as we saw Anna’s program, we knew it would make a great addition to our existing internship program,” says Dagenais. “After that, it was just a matter of figuring out how to make it work for our needs.” 

Bombardier’s WIE program officially launched on October 1, 2020. The virtual event featured Gina Cody as the keynote speaker and had more than 300 attendees. When asked about her future hopes for the program, Sommer replies: “At some point, I hope we don’t need it anymore. I hope that we achieve equality and then we can focus on other areas of need. I don’t expect it to happen quickly, but it would be nice to see that one day.”