TechTALK: July 2021 Edition

Member Spotlight: Jillian Richards, CPT

Jillian Richards is a full member of the CACPT who was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario – a municipality in the Greater Golden Horseshoe that has a population of about 132,000. Jillian began her post-secondary education at the University of Toronto Mississauga where she studied Studio Arts and Art History. It wasn’t until she took a marketing geography course as a social sciences requirement two years into her program that she really discovered her interest in human geography, and started to consider a career path in geography and urban planning. After four years at U of T, she graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art and Art History, Geography with a minor in GIS, as well as an Advanced Diploma from Sheridan College in Art and Art History. Despite her love of the arts, Jillian took the following year to begin looking at furthering her education in Urban Planning and expanding her skillset in a more hands on approach.

Jillian Richards is a full member of the CACPT who was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario – a municipality in the Greater Golden Horseshoe that has a population of about 132,000. Jillian began her post-secondary education at the University of Toronto Mississauga where she studied Studio Arts and Art History. It wasn’t until she took a marketing geography course as a social sciences requirement two years into her program that she really discovered her interest in human geography, and started to consider a career path in geography and urban planning. After four years at U of T, she graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art and Art History, Geography with a minor in GIS, as well as an Advanced Diploma from Sheridan College in Art and Art History. Despite her love of the arts, Jillian took the following year to begin looking at furthering her education in Urban Planning and expanding her skillset in a more hands on approach.

This led her to enroll in Mohawk College’s Urban and Regional Planning Technician – GIS program which was vital in putting her on a path to a fulfilling career. During her time at Mohawk, she put her all into the coursework and was also a Student Representative with the CACPT. Successfully completing the program and graduating with Honours, Jillian was offered a few different jobs after graduation; however, she chose to accept a position at Sobeys National as a Location Research Analyst in the Location Research department. In this role, Jillian was using her GIS skills in market analysis mapping and also had the opportunity to travel all over Canada collecting data to help inform corporate decision making. Although Jillian enjoyed her job, she felt her role at Sobeys was not utilizing her skills and knowledge of urban planning to their full potential. Those feelings and her personal circumstance left her unsure of her next move.

Thanks to the connections Jillian had made during her time at Mohawk with her teachers, peers and the CACPT, Jillian soon found herself living back in her hometown of St. Catharines and working as a Planning/GIS Technician at Quartek Group. Quartek is a multi-disciplinary consulting firm where she had the opportunity to collaborate with fellow colleagues in planning, engineering and architecture on development projects serving both private and public sector clients.

In 2020, while dealing with the on-going situation of the pandemic, Jillian decided that a change was needed. As valuable as her time at Quartek had been for beginning her career in planning, she wished to expand her experience in the municipal context. After nearly three years at Quartek, Jillian received the opportunity to take a position with the City of St. Catharines as a Planning Technician. In this role, she has maintained the City’s land use mapping, created graphics and maps for planning reports, Committee of Adjustment documents, and Official Plan amendments, and most notably, maintained the City’s addressing system which included coordinating with other internal and external agencies for utilities, taxes and emergency response purposes.

However, once again, thanks to her growing professional network, Jillian was made aware of a new position, and has now recently accepted the role of Planning Technician II with the City of Welland. This position will offer more experience utilizing her technical skills, while also allowing her to expand her knowledge of municipal planning processes, and draw on her past experience in customer service.

Jillian is grateful to have made the switch to the public sector, as she feels more engaged with the community around her and has a better understanding of how a Municipality operates. As someone who has always loved to travel and see how different communities function, being a planning technician has been a career that Jillian has become passionate about.

“Whether you’re working on a subdivision design, reviewing zoning compliance on a new site plan, or assisting in the preparation of plans for a new City recreation facility, the work we do is helping shape our communities, and that is a really amazing thing.”

Discovering Planning was something that completely changed the course of Jillian’s life and career. The skills she learned during her time at Mohawk are invaluable, and have led her down a path that is fulfilling and rewarding. It has given her a chance to use the skills she’s accumulated throughout her working life and also continue to grow exponentially. When it comes down to it, Jillian believes that success comes from putting forth your best efforts and having a good attitude towards your work, environment and your colleagues and clients. She’s worked diligently since her very first day at Mohawk, but she attributes a lot of her success to her professional network and her connections through the CACPT. It has been a bit of a whirlwind for Jillian since her graduation from Mohawk 5 years ago, but she looks forward to the future of her budding career, and also continuing to be involved with the CACPT as a Council member in the coming years.