Future Skills
Future skills – basic literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills – are important across all economic sectors and occupations. Figuring out who and how to address skills gaps is key to building an inclusive workforce with upward mobility.
Initiatives
Interim Update from the Resilient Workforce Working Table
In July 2025, the Future Skills Centre (FSC) formed the Resilient Workforce Working Table to identify creative and practical approaches to strengthen the resilience of the Canadian workforce for the short and long-term.
In the Media
Upskilling Canada’s workers and ensuring a resilient workforce: Q&A with Noel Baldwin at the Future Skills Centre
In a Q&A interview, Baldwin talked with Research Money’s managing editor Mark Lowey about: how Canadian workers can keep upskilling in the face of automation and rapid technological change; how young people can gain the right skills in finding employment; the value of formal and information education and work-integrated learning; how government can help workers who need transition in their careers; Canada’s labour market strengths; and the aim of FSC’s recently launched Resilient Workforce Working Table.
Initiatives
2025 ISET Event Report
From May 22-23, 2025, the Future Skills Centre, in partnership with Jelly Academy Inc. co-hosted an in-person, two-day Innovative Indigenous Career and Future Skills Symposium.
Podcast
Investing Skills to Improve Profitability and Sustainability
In this episode of The Finance Cafe Podcast, host Shannon Pestun welcomes Laura McDonough, Associate Director of Insights & Knowledge Mobilization at the Future Skills Centre. Laura leads national research and knowledge-sharing efforts that help shape evidence-informed policy and practice across Canada’s skills ecosystem. With a background in research and evaluation at United Way Greater Toronto and a deep commitment to making data accessible and actionable, Laura brings a unique lens that bridges research, lived experience, and real-world workforce development.
Blog
Walking the Talk: Reflections on Relationship-Building in Indigenous Workforce Development
The ISET Symposium reinforced that relationship-building between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners is not a one-time activity or a short-term objective. It is an ongoing responsibility that requires humility, reflection, and sustained commitment, with Indigenous partners setting the pace and direction of the work.
Research
Impacts of Customization and Wraparound Supports for Digital Skills Upskilling Insights
This report examines the role of wraparound supports in digital skills training programs, specifically for women, newcomers and refugees, and Black youth.
Blog
A Future Built on Skills: Why AI Literacy Must Become a Nation-Building Project
Canada is entering a moment that requires us to move together, deliberately and confidently, toward a future shaped by new technologies and new ways of learning.
Project
FUSION: Future Skills Innovation Network for Universities
The program focused on building metacognition (awareness or understanding of one’s own thinking), communication and problem-solving skills through flexible, experiential and reflective learning delivered in co-op programs across humanities, social sciences and STEM disciplines.
Project
Reboot Plus Expansion
The Reboot Plus Expansion program, led by Douglas College and PEERs Employment & Education Resources, aims to re-engage youth aged 17–24 who are at risk of not finishing high school or are unsure of their academic and career trajectories.