The Government of Canada has announced more than $33 million over five years for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness (STAR) program.
The Government of Canada is making targeted investments to remove barriers and get more Canadians the apprenticeship training they need to build good, well-paying careers in the skilled trades.
The STAR program encourages Canadians—particularly those facing barriers, such as women, Indigenous people, visible minorities, newcomers, persons with disabilities and youth—to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades.
Now more than ever, skilled tradespeople are in high demand to fill well-paying jobs and build rewarding careers. Approximately 700,000 skilled trades workers are expected to retire in Canada by 2028, creating an ever-growing need to recruit and train thousands more.
As part of the funding, $2.8 million will go to Selections Career Support Services for their project, Get Ready in Trades (GRiT). This project will support youth with disabilities to overcome barriers to relevant training and meaningful employment within the skilled trades. GRiT will help youth pre-apprentices with disabilities in providing flexible and individualized career plans, skills enhancement and work experience opportunities to empower them to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades.
To further support hiring of new apprentices, the Government of Canada recently announced close to $247 million for 13 projects under the Apprenticeship Service that will help small and medium-sized enterprises hire more than 25,000 first-year Red Seal apprentices and provide them with the hands-on experience and training they need to become certified journeypersons.
According to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, to meet the demand for skilled journeypersons in Red Seal Trades, an average of around 75,000 new apprentices will need to be hired per year in the next five years. Top trades most at risk of not meeting the demand include welder, industrial mechanic (millwright), bricklayer, boilermaker, cook and hairstylist.
