Mississauga woman a trailblazer in Ontario construction industry

A Mississauga seniors’ residence is celebrating the achievements of a trailblazing woman.

Mary Smith is credited as Ontario’s first-ever female construction safety inspector at a time when women rarely had roles in the industry.

Smith, 90, now lives in Mississauga in the Erin Mills Amica Senior Lifestyles residence. This Saturday is International Women’s Day, and Amica shared her story.

Born in Toronto, Smith’s father was a scientist and the family moved to Jamaica and lived there until Smith was about seven years old, she told INsauga.com.

Later, Smith got married, moved to Ottawa. The couple had six children, all girls, she said.

But as her girls grew, Smith wanted a change and also funds to help support the family. Smith answered a job ad for a “Girl Friday” (a type of administrative assistant) for a demolition company, Teperman and Sons Ltd., in 1971 and got the job.

Her responsibilities grew as she learned more about tenders, bids and salvaging items for resale from buildings.

She moved up to branch manager after her male co-workers left the company. She was responsible for managing demolition bids in Ottawa for the company. This included measuring potential job sites, applying for tenders and demolition permits, and organizing the crew and equipment for jobs.

A 1973 newspaper article noted how unusual it was for a woman to take on this role and jokingly referred to Smith as “a happy home wrecker,” a name her husband Roy gave her.

But Roy was supportive of her choice to work, said Smith’s daughter, Kim Meunier.

“He cooked home, he did as much as Mom did at home,” Meunier said.

Roy Smith also supported his daughters in pursuing careers.

“I remember him from day one saying, you work, you get a job, and your husband should not have to support you,” she said. “They did push us, and we all have careers.”

As her mother was climbing the ranks in the construction industry, Meunier joined the Canadian military in 1974 at a time when it was also very male-dominated. All occupations and roles in the Canadian military were not fully open to women until March 8, 2000. Meunier said she was the first female air traffic controller in the Canadian military to reach the rank of Major.

Mary Smith on the job.

Smith left her job at Teperman around 1974 after the family moved to Toronto. She then applied for a new job and became Ontario’s first-ever female construction safety inspector, Smith said.

Smith said it took time for her male colleagues to get used to a woman in the position.

“They’d never dealt with a woman before, and the dynamics were a little bit different,” she said. “It was tough.”

But after they discovered that she knew her job, her coworkers came to respect her.

“You had to know everything,” said Meunier. “That’s where you would be challenged.”

She inspected workplaces for the province in areas of demolition, construction, manufacturing, health care and educational institutions. Her experience in the safety field became noted across Ontario and the country because of the breadth and variety of the positions she held, Meunier said.

Amica noted this was “a remarkable achievement in a time when women were rarely seen in such roles” and “helped open doors for other women in male-dominated fields.”

Smith went on to supervise the safety program for a large Board of Education with 12,000 employees for to 12 years. After retirement, she continued to develop multimedia programs, present workshops, and manage construction projects through her consulting business.