June 2020 Projects

We’re making a $37 million investment into innovative and community-based programs to find solutions to Canada’s changing workforce

With a strong focus on how we can provide meaningful action for our community’s disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, the Future Skills Centre is investing in 30 new projects to fill employers’ skills gaps and help workers gain in-demand skills in this post-pandemic period.

This $37-million investment into community-based programs focuses on the needs of diverse Canadian workers and employers by exploring innovative approaches to training and upskilling for emerging and in-demand skills.

These 30 projects span all regions of the country and are the result of consultations with stakeholders across Canada’s skills ecosystem. They were selected after an extensive review of hundreds of submissions to a call for proposals we established last year.

With a strong focus on how we can provide meaningful action for Canada’s disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, the projects cover four major themes. 

They range from leveraging people and AI technology, to training, reskilling, and adapting within industries facing chronic skills shortages, to radical new approaches to training and learning in order to build capacity to creating an inclusive workforce for the future by not leaving anyone behind. By applying a rigorous evaluation strategy to all our projects, the Future Skills Centre is keen to work with these partners to help every Canadian succeed in a changing workplace.

Project Listing

Woman standing at a counter and working on their laptop
Project

Facing the challenge of digital transformation in the insurance sector: women at work

Action research project on the future of female workers facing the automation of tasks in their job duties in the insurance sector.
Forklift operator moving a pallet of goods
Project

Material Handling 4.0: Building pathways to employment for disadvantaged groups

Help new and current material handlers in Hamilton to transition to new job opportunities within the supply chain sector.
Standing care worker leaning in to smile at senior seated on a couch
Project

Scaling up the Canadian Remote Access for Dementia Learning Experiences (CRADLE+)

The first, fully-online, multilingual education opportunity specifically designed for historically isolated, unregulated care workers.
Three Indigenious women smiling and sitting in front of a laptop in a cafe setting.
Project

The Indigenous Employment Hub

The Indigenous Employment Hub can help meet labour needs for future (infrastructure) projects in B.C. and become a model for creating meaningful employment opportunities for Indigenous people.
Person giving a whiteboard presentation to a group
Project

Career Advancement for Immigrant Professionals 2.0

Help underemployed immigrant professionals overcome barriers to career advancement and help employers retain and leverage newcomer talent.
Computer screen showing equipment eLearning module
Project

Tech-enabled learning programs for the mining industry

Project will be three two-week unique, demand-driven, and blended-learning training programs using VR, eLearning, simulations and in-field competency assessment. Final equipment selection will be aligned to meet the demand-driven needs of the industry partners.
Project

Skills Development in SMEs for Faster Adaptation to Job Market Changes

To speed up the pace of organizational buy-in to a culture of continuing education and the pace of workforce skills development in eight Quebec regions.
Person at computer with someone standing behind them looking at the screen
Project

Best Practice Models for Industry Engagement

First Canadian test of online VALID-8 tool allowing trades apprentices to be objectively assessed by a certified journeyperson and also demonstrate what they are capable of to prospective employers.
Person wearing blue hard hat and smiling
Project

Virtual recruitment & assessment for the unionized construction industry

Project to create a virtual recruitment and assessment centre in four regions across Canada to recruit underrepresented populations into the unionized construction industry.
Hands gesticulating in front of open laptop; person on laptop in background
Project

InTeRN: a young, northern workforce enters the world of ICT

A two-year network computer technology program geared to providing entry level skills and supports to Indigenous youth in Northern Manitoba.
Diverse team on laptops having a group meeting
Project

AspireAtlantic

Creating a program to bridge the gap between employer demand and workforce attachment in Nova Scotia and PEI.
Indigenous Canadian using a mobile device
Project

Project Connect: Technology-enabled learning for Métis communities

Project Connect will design and test an online delivery model for a professional project administrator program created for and with B.C.’s Métis community.
Overhead view of group of Indigenous people smiling
Project

Upskill and certify Indigenous child and youth practitioners

Create innovative educational opportunities that reduce barriers to Indigenous peoples’ participation and increase the number of Indigenous youth workers with postsecondary certificates who have marketable skills.
View all Projects