Unfortunately, decision-making in EIC is becoming more and more decentralized, carried out on a case-by-case basis with individual managers in local CEC offices setting their own priorities. While in the B.C./Yukon region the WITT standards and guidelines were being adopted into funding criteria, across the country pre- trades training programs for women were dropping like flies. The longest running trades exploratory course in the country, held at Red River College in Manitoba (and the only program in the province) was cancelled. The only program in P .E.I., sponsored by the East Prince Women's Centre through Holland College, was cancelled. The only program in Nova Scotia, sponsored by YW-NOW through the Nova Scotia Institute of Technology, was refused funding. And the list can go on.

In B.C., WITT continued to receive calls from groups wanting to put on courses and from EIC personnel wanting to check about implementation of the guidelines. Local CEC offices in the region were taking seriously the EIC Local Planning Guidelines which recommended increasing the implementation and delivery of programs which met WITT's National Standards. Recently, we received an informal report outlining the ways in which these standards had guided the delivery of eight Project Based Training initiatives around the province. The report documented that in every case the standards provided an important tool in the creation and delivery of much needed and well utilized exploratory trades and technical training for women, including in isolated rural areas.

Clearly, this success needs to be shared around the country, but finding the required time and money to go through a similar process in each province has been daunting. WITT women have met several times with the changing Deputy Ministers of EIC to put the proposal forward. EIC re-organizes more frequently than any other department and those with responsibility for the issue change regularly, requiring that we return again and again, repeating the same message. Tenacity is a much needed virtue.

Yet, in reality, all the implementation efforts could go for naught when "Since 1990 ... the amount of money that is specifically targeted to training has declined by 48%. ... From 1990-91 to 1991-92, federal government funding for training was cut by 100 million dollars. Over that same year, training expenditures for women declined by 108 million dollars. In effect, women took the full brunt of these cuts! ... The programs that have been most successful in assisting these women- -bridging programs that integrate skill training, upgrading, English language instruction, counseling and life skills--have been those that have been most severely cut back" (8). Women make up the vast majority of those living below the poverty line in Canada. Until the government ensures that women have access to appropriate skills training for ongoing and emerging trades and technology occupations, and equitable access to those jobs, women's opportunities for economic sustainability will continue to be limited.

The WITT exploratory courses have proven their worth. Now is the time to have the WITT National Standards and Program Development Guidelines adopted into funding criteria across the country, and to make a serious commitment to ongoing funding for these and other bridging programs.

Marcia Braundy is a journeyed carpenter and was the first woman in the construction sector of the B.C. Carpenters' Union. She is currently the National Coordinator of the WITT National Network and leads seminars for men and women on issues of women in trades, technology, operations and blue collar work. She sits on the Apprenticeship Committee of the CLFDB and on the B.C. Provincial Apprenticeship Board. For copies of the National Standards and Program Development Guidelines contact the WITT National Network, R.R.#1 Winlaw, B.C., VOG 2JO, (604), 226-7624, fax (604) 226-7954.