Kari Lentowicz and Diamonds in the Rough have seen progress and international success, but the best may be yet to come for the all-female mine rescue team.
Working along with the Hudbay Women’s Group, Diamonds in the Rough held a public event at the RH Channing Auditorium Feb. 11 to show the group’s progress and share where the group will go next.
In the run-up to the team’s first International Mine Rescue Competition (IMRC) last year, Diamonds in the Rough overcame hurdles with official approvals, funding, issues in coordinating training sessions, logistics and travel to make their way to Yekaterinburg, Russia for the competition. In Russia, women are prohibited by law from working underground, a rule dating back before the industrially heavy times of the Soviet Union.
That rule didn’t prove to be much of a barrier for the Diamonds, who became the first group of women to ever set foot underground in Russia during the competition.
“We were the first five women ever to go underground in Russia and perform work. That’s us. We’re on our way,” said Jodi Brasch, a Diamonds in the Rough team member and mine rescue team member from Snow Lake.
Not content with just being a novelty team, the Diamonds got down to work. The team achieved terrific results, finishing fifth of 25 teams in the underground rescue event.
“That right there; that iced the cake. It really did. Three days of practice together, 10 days together and we get fifth in the world? We’ll take that,” said Brasch.
After a series of different disciplines, Diamonds in the Rough finished 15th overall. They were not only the highest-ranked team from Canada in the contest, but the highest-ranked team from the Americas.
The group’s performance earned them praise from their peers: a people’s choice award as most popular team during the IMRC and positive testimonials from their competitors - some of which Diamonds in the Rough showed during the event.
“It was inspirational to watch you guys in the relay. You gave it your all. It was a pleasure to meet and compete against you all,” said James Hodkinson, a member of the Moranbah North Mines Rescue Team from Australia.
“I wish my girls could have been there to watch you all. Inspiring!”
With a successful competition now under their belt, Diamonds in the Rough are now beginning to branch out. The group has set up a non-profit entity to help encourage diversity in mining and to provide training and programs to help mining companies branch out. They plan to have more speaking events with mining companies and conferences, and will hold training sessions with other mine rescue teams.
Of course, competition will be a big part of the group’s future. Diamonds in the Rough hope to compete at the National Western Region Mine Rescue Competition in Fernie, B.C. later this year, as well as the next IMRC in 2020.
“For 2022, we hope to have a first-place team compete,” said Lentowicz.
“That is our five-year plan. We’ve got a lot of little steps in between now and then in order to get there.”
The group was founded in part to challenge preconceptions of women’s roles in mining. While strides have been made in recent years, Canadian mining is still an overwhelmingly male industry. Women make up between 14 and 17 per cent of all mining-related employees in Canadian mining, seven per cent of board members in top 500 mining companies and less than three per cent of mine rescue crew members.
Harassment and bullying can often dog female employees within the industry.
“One in five women in one study see harassment once a month or more. One in eight actually experience it and a third of women have said they have experienced harassment, bullying or violence in their workplace,” said Lentowicz.
“Often, us women choose to suck it up. Because that’s what we’re told to do – we put on a brave face and we surge forward. Some of us become really good at it. I’ve seen a lot of women just take it and continue on.”
Jodi Brasch, a Diamonds in the Rough member and employee at Hudbay’s Lalor mine, said she was the only female worker at Lalor when she started working in Snow Lake. Now, the mine employs just over 30 women, not including contracted employees.
“Coming into an all-male workplace, being the only female with your crew had its challenges. Because I was raised my whole life in Snow Lake, I knew a lot of men I was working with – well, at least I thought I did,” Brasch told the crowd.
“There were many comments given in my first few weeks – ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Nobody wants you here.’ ‘She better not be taking money off the contract.’ The list goes on. In all honesty, I might have given a few answers to those comments, just so they understood that I was the kind of woman who stands my ground and won’t be pushed around.”
According to Lentowicz’s research, having female workers underground has benefits for companies and other employees across the board, including positive advantages to safety, employee engagement, production and the community at large.
“When you include women, you’re not excluding 50 per cent of the population. Guess what? We have something to offer. Production goes up. What does all this mean? Greater profitability. The company’s got to make money. Why wouldn’t they look at women, too?” she said.
“A thing that I encourage a lot of men that I’ve worked with to do is to treat women as you would treat any other employee. If you feel uncomfortable doing it, then maybe you should be treating your male employees better.”
The lack of female employees and hardwired gender-based bias can mean new female employees have a hard time finding mentors after starting work.
“One of the biggest things that we saw in a lot of the research we did was one of the barriers was a lack of mentorship. Because we have fewer women in senior leadership roles, they don’t really have anyone for that mentorship and we don’t find men are taking on that role as much as they should. That’s definitely something we need to see more of,” said Lentowicz.
It’s in that vacuum that Lentowicz hopes Diamonds in the Rough can provide inspiration and guidance, not only for both men and women working in heavy industry, but also for the next generation of workers.
“When I got back, I did a thing with the Girl Guides here and one of the mothers told me her daughter came home and said she wanted to be a firefighter. I just went, ‘Awesome! We got one more,’” she said.
“That’s our goal here, to get more women involved, because we’re damn good. We really are. We’re very good in that emergency response role.”
