Targeting Essential Skills
for Aboriginal Apprentices

Ottawa, March 9, 2011 - The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum-Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage (CAF-FCA) is organizing a series of twelve interactive workshops to promote essential skills and apprenticeship training for Aboriginal apprentices.  With baby boomer retirements looming and threatening to create major skills shortages, there is an urgent need to train tomorrow’s workforce today.  Aboriginal people will be an important part of the future labour force and this project is contributing to efforts to ensure they have the skills they need to succeed.

Productivity and the ability to adapt to rapidly-changing technologies are currently major concerns for employers, leading them to seek candidates with the appropriate essential skills to build on – skills such as reading, writing, math and communication.  To help Aboriginal apprentices be better prepared for the workplace, identifying skills gaps early in the process is vital to learner success.  CAF-FCA seeks to inform employment counselors of existing tools and help them more effectively assist Aboriginal candidates, putting them on the road to success.

“Aboriginal peoples will increasingly make up a larger part of the workforce and they need to have the skills to do the job.  The focus of these workshops – on assessing skills and getting learners the help they need in a supportive and positive way – is really important,” says Kevin Rose, Program Coordinator, Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute. 

For this initiative, CAF-FCA engaged a variety of partners across Canada, including ACCESS and BC Metis Nation in British Colombia, Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute and the Ogwehoweh Skills and Trades Training Centre in Ontario, the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 310 Yukon, the Aboriginal Workforce Development Initiative, Cree Human Resources Development of the Cree Regional Authority of Quebec, and the Joint Economic Development Initiative in New Brunswick.  It is anticipated that over 200 participants will attend the workshops. 

“Working with such enthusiastic partners has been a great experience.  We hope to continue to work together to promote success in apprenticeship training,” said Sarah Watts-Rynard, Executive Director of CAF-FCA.  

The tools being featured in the workshops were developed for apprentices by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills at the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, and were released in the fall of 2009.

CAF-FCA, is an inclusive national body that brings together all of the stakeholders in Canada's apprenticeship community. Visit www.caf-fca.org for more information.

For more information on the featured tools, visit http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/LES/tools_resources/apprentices.shtml. 

For more information:
Marie Bilodeau ,
Communications Manager
613-235-4004 ext. 207
marie_bilodeau@caf-fca.org
http://www.caf-fca.org