March 8 is International Women’s Day. To celebrate the women in our industry who keep more than two million Canadians moving every day, CUTA President Marco D’Angelo made the following statement:

“On this day, and every day, CUTA is proud to celebrate and recognize the women in our industry who make it great, who work tirelessly to keep our communities connected. And who take action for a more equitable world. We salute you.”

This year, CUTA is recognizing one individual in particular: Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, the new Branch Manager of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS).

Carrie has been leading the ETS team through the pandemic and is passionate about transit’s critical role in achieving climate, economic, and social equity goals. She’s also spearheading community collaboration to gather feedback from diverse groups about further safety enhancements on transit, especially for women and girls. This new gender-based approach has already resulted in the launch of a Transit Watch text message service that allows riders to discreetly report any safety concerns, which stemmed from and reflects feedback collected directly from women. And in making transit safer for women and girls, it will be safer for everyone.

“International Women’s Day holds special importance to me, both personally and professionally,” said Hotton-MacDonald. “It’s important to have diverse perspectives incorporated into our programs and services, and we’re very much looking forward to further community collaboration that will help us continue to improve. At ETS, we’re also encouraging women, and diverse candidates, to apply for various positions in the organization, including leadership roles. I want them to know that transit is welcoming and presents a lot of different career paths.”

We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. Happy International Women’s Day from CUTA.