FORMER CAMECO EMPLOYEE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT SEXIST CIGAR LAKE WORK CULTURE
Women say entering the senior ranks of ‘the boys’ club’ seemed an impossible goal
Kari Lentowicz was thrilled when she was offered a job at Cigar Lake, Cameco Corp.’s flagship uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan.
It was an opportunity to work at a fascinating facility and fulfil her ambition to improve environmental protection and sustainability in the province’s mining industry, the 39-year-old recalls.
Almost a decade later, in September 2016, Lentowicz quit. A raft of problems including sexist comments, an insular “boys’ club” whose decisions made advancement difficult and gender bias built in to the remote mine’s facilities eventually became too much for her to bear, she said.
“I knew I had had enough about two years before I quit. When I started at Cameco, I didn’t think I would stay there very long but I loved the people (and) I really enjoyed my job. And then it just kind of went downhill. I just kept hoping that it would change back to a more positive work environment. And it never did.”
Other sources familiar with Saskatoon-based Cameco and its Cigar Lake mine who spoke to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix on the condition of anonymity backed up Lentowicz’s claims. One said women at the mine had to watch their backs; another said the sexism was a challenge at first but soon became discouraging.
Cameco is aware of the concerns raised by Lentowicz and others, and is working to address them, according to Alice Wong, Cameco’s senior vice president of human resources. It remains a challenge for the company, “but we address it because everyone has the right to feel safe in the workplace,” she said in an interview.
Steps taken to date include educating the company’s workforce on subjects such as gender bias, disrespectful behaviour and harassment, as well as ongoing reviews of human resources programs and continuing consultations to identify challenges and barriers, Wong said in a followup email.
“This behaviour that they describe is not acceptable,” Wong said. “I don’t like to hear about any kind of form of disrespect — it’s against my personal values and it’s against the company values. We’re trying to improve, we’ve started this improvement and we’ve encouraged women to come forward, and I’ve encouraged them to come to me personally.”
A cluster of yellow buildings in a clearing about 800 kilometres north of Saskatoon, Cigar Lake sits atop what is thought to be one of the richest uranium deposits ever discovered. It’s so valuable that Cameco spent about $2.6 billion, much more than expected, to bring the mine into production earlier this decade.
Lentowicz started working at the mine in 2006. While previous experiences with other companies hardened her to the possibility that sexist “coffee room talk” and other gender barriers were common in the industry, her first years at Cameco’s operation were generally positive, she said. Then, things started to change.
Inexplicable decisions about workplace matters, including staffing, were attributed to the socalled boys’ club, a group of senior employees women had no chance of joining, Lentowicz said. At one point, she and two other sources said, the appearance of bias entered hiring decisions. It may not have been intentional, but it nevertheless reflected privilege, Lentowicz said.
“I have seen Cigar Lake decline so much since the boy’s (sic) club formed,” one employee wrote in a complaint submitted anonymously to the company this year, a copy of which was obtained by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
“The dynamic interaction between (the men who are said to make up the club) has caused nothing but issues for the people around them.”
There were other problems, too. Lentowicz recalled one instance when a male supervisor told her two women had been hired, and that he was worried because they might become pregnant.
“He said it as a joke but it wasn’t a very good joke in my opinion,” Lentowicz said. “If that’s what’s in the backs of people’s minds when they’re hiring … that’s got to change.”
Wong said while awareness of issues like sexism has increased dramatically since she started working in the mining industry, it remains a challenge. Meetings with more than 425 women at Cameco’s operations revealed that parts of the company are “very progressive” while there are others “where things could be improved,” she said.
Lentowicz also raised concerns about the facilities at Cigar Lake, arguing that a shortage of women’s bathrooms, showers and lockers mean Cameco had effectively limited the number of women it can employ. There is plenty of space at the mine for men to live and work, but the infrastructure is designed to accommodate only a small number of women, she said.
Wong said Cameco is “looking at” its facilities in northern Saskatchewan. While the company struggling amid a weak uranium market, options include renovating or retrofitting those operations that suffer from a “historical issue” — facilities designed when gender diversity was not discussed as widely, she said.
Cameco reported last month that women make up just under a quarter of its Canadian workforce, down slightly over the last four years but well under the 2014 industry average of 14 per cent calculated by the Saskatchewan Mining Association (SMA).
Speaking generally, SMA president Pam Schwann said achieving gender parity will likely take years.
“Until you see a stronger reflection of the general population in the workforce, there’s going to be just some general barriers,” Schwann said, adding that while gradual workforce attrition will itself lead to change, it remains important to ensure everyone in the industry understands that workplaces must be respectful and open.
That echoes statements made by the industry group Women in Mining and Women in Nuclear, which has said that while discussions of diversity suggest companies are taking it seriously, more needs to be done. Breaking down gender barriers will likely involve not just the industry but the broader education system, the group’s representatives have said.
Wong said she wants a future where a person’s skills and performance are the only factors that matter. Asked whether that is achievable, she said some of it can be accomplished in the next five years.
“Will we get there 100 per cent? Maybe not. Can we make some very good progress? I think so.”
While Lentowicz believes the solution is simple — “Be aware of the bias — in order to combat it, you’ve got to be aware of it, not simply say, ‘There is no bias’ ” — the anonymous employee took a different view in the complaint.
“I feel sorry for any of my (fellow) co-workers who are women and work up here. They have no chance of getting ahead.”
We’re trying to improve, we’ve started this improvement and we’ve encouraged women to come forward, and I’ve encouraged them to come to me.