Brampton, ON – Ontario is making it easier for students and young people to enter the skilled trades.
To increase the number of people in the trades, the provincial government announced it is introducing new policy and legislative measures, new high school programs, a new apprenticeship pathway, and an online job platform.
The apprenticeship stream, titled “Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training (FAST),” will allow Grades 11 and 12 students to participate in more apprenticeship learning through additional cooperative education credits while completing high school.
Students in the program can take up to 80 per cent of their senior courses in co-op education. Graduates will receive a new seal on their Ontario Secondary School Diploma upon completing the program.
In 2024, Ontario will support 68 new pre-apprenticeship programs serving over 1,700 participants in 2024-2025. These projects are free for participants and combine classroom training with on-the-job learning.
Ontario will also introduce its new government-housed online job platform to help people get jobs. The job matching portal will allow apprentices, journeypersons, and employers to network.
The new portal is intended to help streamline the process for potential apprentices to find interested sponsors, register and begin their training. Currently, there are 1.3 million people working in skilled trades-related jobs.
Additionally, the government is proposing new legislative measures to address barriers to apprenticeship training for workers who have prior professional experience but cannot meet specific academic entry requirements to register as apprentices.
This policy will create alternative pathways for people interested in skilled trades as a second career if they meet alternative criteria, which may include minimum high school graduation and a history of prior work experience.