During your first year you won't have enough free time to do any sort of work outside of school.
You can look for something during the summer though but your probably better off in Toronto or Montreal.
From my experience, I'd say most offices are reluctant to take on someone until after second year/ have some knowledge of CAD/BIM software, but if your volunteering I guess its a different story...

Do you know of any CAD/BIM courses outside of school? I have looked for workshops and none come up, I guess it's more of a personal thing to start learning them.

Do firms look for formal experience regarding this kind of software knowledge? For example, I knew how to use photoshop, and knew how to use it well, before I ever had a go at it in school. Could I simply show my work to them on a laptop if I were to go in?

I realise that first year will be overwhelming for me, therefore I'm not looking for a position in that time. I was hoping a firm could take me in for a simple position or just allow me to sit and watch some CAD monkey do his thing, I'd learn a lot just by watching- too bad just one out of 20 firms bothered to reply to my e-mails, haha.

I just finished my first year of the undergraduate program at McGill. Although I didn't look for anything in the architectural field this summer, here are some observations from classmates who were looking for work in and around the Montreal area.

If you don't have connections, you need to know CAD. You don't have to have any sort of formal training, they probably won't even ask for proof, but they'll expect you to be as proficient as you say you are on your C.V.

At least at McGill, you need a certain number of months experience before applying to M.Arch. Any position you get after your first year DOES NOT count towards this experience (has to happen after 4 semesters are completed).

If you just want to sit and watch somebody work on CAD, it doesn't have to be at an architectural firm. You might try asking around at other construction-industry offices. Try to find a career discovery program through your old high-school or Carleton. I know what I was in high-school they arranged day-long job shadowing for students (although this might be difficult during the summer).

Try calling or visiting the offices in person. This was recommended over emailing by our profs when trying to find a summer job. Even if you don't get to talk to anybody 'important', leaving your details/CV in-person might get more of a response than an easily deleted email.

If you want to learn CAD, teach yourself, it's not hard if you have some sense of computers (which I will guess is a yes given your Photoshop skills). If you need, you can probably borrow a training manual from your local/university library. You won't be using it much in your first year anyways, you'll find your first year of architecture nothing like what they are doing in the architectural office (especially from what I've heard about Carleton's program).

I understand that school is nothing like the profession, which is my primary concern in trying to learn applicable things to grow my CV.

Thank you for mentioning visitng firms in-person, I was unsure about doing that due to a lack of advice and now I'm more motivated to do so. What kind of things would they like to see in a CV? I don't have too much to "offer" so I don't know what I'd mention.

From what you have said, Meredith, it seems as though I simply need to attend university and learn some programs before trying to find some kind of position at a firm, thank you for your input.