Canada's construction news
Seven years after winning a Skills Canada gold medal in bricklaying, New Brunswick’s Ashley Ritchie hasn’t rested on her laurels.
She also spent time promoting gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace with the Women’s Equality Branch of the Government of New Brunswick, serving as a mentor at the branch’s Trades and Technology for Girls Career Exploration events. No wonder Melissa Young, registrar and CEO of Skilled Trades Ontario and a former New Brunswicker, calls Ritchie “one amazing lady.”
Ritchie seems to have had the same enthusiasm for almost every stage of her career. She took woodworking in high school and later launched her trades career in carpentry but once on the jobsite she began to watch the bricklayers.“My favourite part of both trades is transforming the exterior of the building,” Ritchie said. “I really love those houses where it’s a mixed media of products, like the stone on the bottom, stone up a chimney or brick, and wood siding on the top half of the house.
“It’s so satisfying to finish a project, whether it’s a building that stands for eternity in a community or it’s a residential house, it’s going to be there for a long time and you really get a sense of what you do to a community,” she said.Soon enough Ritchie realized that if she completed a degree in adult education, switching from another course she had pursued earlier, she could help others experience the same rewards she has.