Community Stories

Feature: Building a Culture of Mentorship on the Finch West LRT Project

The Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT) project is bringing many community and social benefits to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including opportunities to mentor newcomers to Canada.

Mosaic Transit Group, designer and contractor of the Finch West LRT system, encourages staff to share their experiences in building the LRT project with people in the community so others may learn from them.

In mid-February, six staff from Mosaic volunteered with ACCES Employment to mentor professionally trained new immigrants at the first ever Peel Speed Mentoring marathon. Together with other mentors from across the GTA and a variety of sectors, they met and networked with mentees to discuss the Canadian workplace culture, local job market, employment opportunities on the Finch West LRT project, and the importance of building a professional network.

The mentees come from all over the world and their backgrounds are just as varied, ranging from engineering, to finance to marketing and IT design.

The mentors’ experience was rewarding for many different reasons. For some, the ACCES Employment Speed Mentoring event provided an opportunity to aid newcomers in kick starting their career in a new country and for others it was an opportunity to share personal lessons learned.

From the perspective of Cecille Chin, a new employee at Mosaic, the experience was eye opening. “I had not heard of speed mentoring before so was intrigued by the concept, says Chin, Mosaic’s new Community Benefits Officer. “ACCES Employment did an excellent job hosting a well attended event and their mentee candidates were polished, professional and well prepared. It was my third day at Mosaic, so I was a little nervous, but ACCES Employment encouraged me to share my experience and insights from entering the Canadian workforce in 2008. That approach proved quite valuable to the people I spoke with and many expressed their appreciation. I believe mentorship events are important for connecting people and those involved in a mentor-mentee relationship will benefit from the experience.”

Above photo: Participants of the ACCES Employment Speed Mentoring Event.

Mosaic staff mentors, from left to right: Shalini, Cecille, Pepe, Jose, Mac and Paulette.

For more Finch West Community Stories, click below:

March Break Kids Corner
Building Mentorship
School Backpacks
Canstar Printing
The Subban Family
Scholarship for Students