Lorrie Potvin, Apprenticeship Award
Author, Tradeswoman, Artist, Teacher
Auto Body Apprentice, 1985
Growing up in Deep River, Ont., Lorrie Potvin wasn’t allowed to take shop class like her three brothers, despite her interest in machinery. Girls were to learn home economics to prepare for a career as a homemaker. Self-identified as a “queer little kid,” she knew that was not the life for her.
Leaving home at 17 with a suitcase and $20 in her pocket, Potvin landed her first job as a secretary with the Metric Commission in Ottawa. After two years, she left her secure government position to travel western Canada, eventually returning to the National Capital Region, determined to follow her passion.
“When I came back to Ottawa, I signed up for a one-year machine shop program at St. Lawrence College in Brockville. At the time, I was the only woman in class,” said Potvin. “I graduated with the highest marks, but I still was unable to find a work placement because I was a woman.”
Potvin’s supervisor called in a favour and she completed her work experience at the Black and Decker factory in Brockville. While she loved the machine shop and working on the large milling machines, the factory didn’t have the budget to hire her.
Not one to be deterred, Potvin visited shops around Ottawa seeking an apprentice role but would continue to face barriers as a woman in the trades. “It was the same message: ‘I can’t hire you. My wife would kill me. Why do you want to work here? It’s dirty. If I hired you, you’d distract the men.’”
Eventually, Potvin secured a role at Manotick Motors through a government wage-subsidy program encouraging women in non-traditional occupations. Again, she was the only woman in the shop. Nonetheless, she proved herself and after a few months, the foreman agreed to sign her up for an apprenticeship, providing her with the opportunity to pursue post-secondary automotive education.
Walking into the Autobody Repair and Refinishing program at Algonquin College, Potvin wasn’t surprised to see she was the only woman in the program. In fact, she was the first woman to attend the program at the College. Finishing her apprenticeship, Potvin pursued her Red Seal certificate, finishing with the highest marks in her cohort.
After earning a Class D heavy equipment operator licence with the air brake endorsement, Potvin’s next role was with the City of Ottawa where she was, once again, the only woman in the shop. After several years with the City, Algonquin College offered her an instructor position in the automotive section of a new program – Women in Trades and Technology (WITT). She would also teach her trade in the Autobody Repair and Refinishing program, the same program she graduated from years earlier.
After 11 years at the College, the programs were reorganized and Potvin chose to take a layoff package. Included was a clause where the College agreed to pay for tuition and supplies if she decided to return to school. With her trade licence acting as an undergraduate degree, she applied to the Technological Education program at Queen’s University and was one of the 28 students accepted out of 300 applicants.
After years of overcoming challenges and obstacles, her success at Queen’s started another journey that included sobriety.
“It was really the best decision that I could have made for myself,” says Potvin. “I’ve been sober since then – 22 years now – and I thought it’s wonderful that I’ve been offered this and now I can do something that is meaningful to me personally. It really was a full circle moment — I wasn’t allowed to take shop in high school, and now I’ve become a shop teacher.”
During her time as a student at Queen’s, a tingling sensation in Potvin’s feet led to a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. Despite this challenge, she finished her program and continued her education at Queen’s, earning a Special Education Specialist post-graduate certificate. She then taught high school shop class for eight years before medically retiring.
The transition from working life to retirement wasn’t always easy for Potvin. Self-sufficient with a quiet strength, Potvin’s resilience and educational pursuits led to a fulfilling career in automotive repair and refinishing across several sectors. Now, she looks to give back to her community through volunteerism and community engagement.
“Helping others in the community is the ultimate way of giving back and saying thank you to those who helped me through my life,” says Potvin.
Potvin’s volunteer work includes 10 years at Wintergreen Studios, an off-grid educational retreat, for which she received an Ontario volunteer appreciation award. As a proud member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, she also volunteers as a circle keeper in the Indigenous Restorative Practice team at Family and Children’s Services (FCS) in Pembroke. Recently, she started to volunteer with Lanark County Community Justice in their Restorative Justice program.
Lorrie is also a published author of short stories, essays and memoirs. In 2015, she published her first book, First Gear – A Motorcycle Memoir (2015), and followed it with Horses in the Sand in 2022.
When asked what advice she would give to women entering the trades today, Potvin encourages those who are interested to pick up their work gloves, take a deep breath, and sign up for that course.
“Go for it and do it. Working in trades is a valued, honest, healthy, good way of making a living,” she says. “Women certainly have the dexterity, knowledge and skills to compete. We can get those jobs and have the chance to make the same money and stand in the same places as men.”