By Tatiana Tomljanovic
Reprinted with permission from Trade Talk – BC Building Trades bcbuildingtrades.org
Times were tough for Elizabeth Moses and her family when they came to Canada as refugees from the Sudan. She was just six years old. Elizabeth, her parents and five siblings were living in social housing in Ontario, and there wasn’t a lot to go around.
“I grew up in poverty,” Moses said. “I just didn’t have a lot. I couldn’t really ask for much. There was uncertainty in my future.”
When it came to a career, Moses’ parents wanted her to go to university, but the cost of tuition was prohibitive. Moses knew from experience in high school woodworking and robotics that she enjoyed working with her hands, so she explored her options and discovered a free precision metal cutting apprenticeship program at a local college. After finishing her apprenticeship, Moses worked as a machinist before moving to BC to take on a second trade.
“I didn’t want to have just one skill,” Moses said. “I wanted to know what else was out there.” Connecting with a wide network of women in the trades through a Facebook group, Moses became friends with the group’s administrator Miriam Jordi, a sheet metal worker from BC who encouraged Moses to try something new.
Moses moved to BC and soon discovered her love of working with sheet metal. Now in her second year of apprenticeship with Local 280, Moses is the apprentice liaison to the union, representing more than 600 apprentices. She is an ambassador for the SMART Army, and the newly elected co-chair of Build TogetHER BC, the women’s committee of the BC Building Trades.
Former BuildTogetHER BC co-chair Sandra Brynjolfson, assistant business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 213, nominated Moses for the position in January.
“I’d never met Sandra before that day, but she talked about passing on the torch and giving women a chance, and she gave me that opportunity,” Moses said.
At just 25 years old, Moses has racked up an impressive list of accolades and awards through her community engagement and support for women and young people in the trades. She was recognized by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in the skilled trades category and received the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women 2024 Award. She was the keynote speaker at the 2024 Canadian Coalition of Women in Science, Engineering, Trades, and Technology conference, and she has hosted and presented at First Robotics Canada competitions. She has also been a mentor and tutor in her hometown with the Women’s Enterprise Skills Training of Windsor.
As for Moses’ parents back home in Windsor, they now recognize the value of the career path she chose.
“My parents are very proud,” Moses said. “They’ve seen a lot of my accomplishments that have come out of the trades.
Moses envisions getting more young people involved in the trades by presenting at schools to build awareness of career opportunities. She and Build TogetHER have plans to create more committee positions with people taking on different roles and addressing ongoing issues, such as the lack of properly fitting PPE for women in the construction trades industry.
Moses plans to continue her work supporting and encouraging women and youth in the trades in BC both as a union representative and through her work with Build TogetHER.
“I want for young women to believe in themselves, which is why I got into volunteering,” Moses said. “It’s a lot of unpaid labour, but it might help somebody else out in the same situation. My position is not unique, being in poverty and choosing the trades to get myself out of it.
“If you want to be involved and be an influence, you have to give the trades the time and respect it deserves. My goal right now is to finish my apprenticeship and give back to the community.” ■
