Feds Invest $33 Million Towards the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness (STAR) Program
August 16, 2022 | By Logan Caswell
The STAR program encourages Canadians to explore and prepare for careers in the skilled trades.
The Government of Canada have invested $33 million over five years for the Skilled Trades Awareness and Readiness (STAR) program. 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.
As part of the announcement, $2.8 million in funding will be provided 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.
