The federal government is spending $500,000 on a project aimed at making Canada’s trucking industry more diverse and inclusive.The funding, announced Friday during National Trucking Week by Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu, will go to Trucking HR Canada through Ottawa’s Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity (WORBE) program.The project will look at how hiring practices and workplace systems affect efforts to bring in under-represented groups, including women, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and visible minorities. It will also improve how workforce data is gathered and reported.Hajdu said the initiative will help identify and remove barriers that limit access to jobs in the industry. .“A strong and resilient workforce is built on equal opportunities, and fostering inclusivity is essential to strengthening Canada’s economy,” she said.Trucking HR Canada CEO Angela Splinter said the partnership will help employers improve employment equity reporting and build workplaces where “everyone can thrive.”The WORBE program provides $3 million annually to support projects that increase representation of designated groups in sectors with low participation.Employees in the road transportation sector who cross provincial or international borders fall under federal jurisdiction, representing about 17% of the federally regulated private-sector workforce.The federal government is also continuing to investigate employee misclassification in trucking, where drivers are often treated as independent contractors instead of employees.
