An Ottawa organization is receiving 700,000 dollars in federal funding to aid female and LGBTQ2A+ veterans.

Helmets to Hardhats (H2H) is a local not-for-profit organization that helps veterans find work in the skilled trades. They work with unions to find high-paying jobs in construction and other skilled trades for veterans transitioning into civilian life.

On Wednesday, Minister of Veterans Affairs Lawrence McAulay announced over one-million dollars in federal funding would be distributed to three Ottawa organizations which aid in the employment of veterans, as part of the Veteran and Family Wellbeing Fund.

Joseph Maloney, founder and executive director at H2H, says the purpose of the targeted funding is to expand employment in the trades to veterans who are often overlooked.

“Everybody has access to the trades, but the trades are male dominated,” says Maloney. “There's no doubt about that in most of the trades, but we're seeing that change more and more on a daily basis, which is good.”

Historically, women and LGBTQ2+ members of the Canadian Forces have not benefited from the same rights or access to opportunities enjoyed by heterosexual men.

Women have served in Canada's military for over 100 years, according to the Government of Canada. The Second World War saw the largest number of women joining the forces, performing non-traditional roles in maintenance, manufacturing, and medicine. In 1971, roles for women in the service began to include jobs typically performed by men, such as vehicle and aircraft mechanics, vehicle drivers, air-traffic controllers and more. 

Beginning in the 1940's, the military began persecuting LGBTQ2 members for “sexual deviance". In 1967, new legislation subjected service members who identified as part of the LGBTQ2+ community to a formal investigation. The law was repealed in 1992, but it wasn’t until 2005, when federal legislation decriminalized same-sex marriage throughout Canada, that a member of the service married a same-sex partner for the first time. 

In 2019, Veterans Affairs Canada created The Office of Women and LGBTQ2 Veterans, which aims to “work collaboratively” with female and LGBTQ2+ veterans. 

Maloney says H2H will use the new funding in part to hire two liaisons, one to communicate directly with female veterans, and one to communicate directly with LGBTQ2+ veterans.

“We just want to make sure that those communities are not left behind and not overlooked,” says Maloney.

Maloney says that work in the skilled trades is appealing to many veterans because they often have a foundation in the hands-on work they are performing. 

According to Maloney, H2H has served over 2,000 local veterans since starting in 2012. The organization works with companies that offer apprenticeship programs, so that veterans can train in their chosen field while earning a fair wage. 

Maloney is hoping that with the new funding, and by working directly with veterans from the targeted communities, H2H will be able to expand its services to traditionally marginalized and underserved members of the Canadian Forces.

“Our goal is to make sure that every veteran in Canada, no matter if you're LGBTQ, male, female, Black, white, Indigenous… is aware of the opportunities in the construction industry,” says Maloney. “And if they're interested, we'll show them how to access those opportunities.”

H2H will receive the largest chunk of federal funding from this initiative, with the other two organizations, Ottawa Innercity Ministries and Perley Health receiving $175,000 dollars and $135,050 dollars, respectively.

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