Funding expands opportunities in the skilled trades
December 17, 2025
Morgan Payton and Ali Kasule are sitting in the same classroom at very different stages of their lives and careers.
The pair are part of a pre-employment program for a carpentry apprenticeship at the Christian Labour Association of Canada’s (CLAC) Career Development College in Edmonton.
“I worked as a scaffolder and insulator helper and found this course through that job,” says Payton, a 20-year-old woman from Lacombe, a small town in central Alberta. “Carpentry really interested me because my mom likes to do DIY stuff around the house. My dad is an electrician, and he also encouraged me to look at a career in the trades.”
Kasule, on the other hand, decided to make a major career change after moving to Canada from Uganda three years ago.
“I worked as a teacher in secondary schools and taught at a university in Uganda. I also worked in the diplomatic service and did legislative work in the national assembly,” says the 55-year-old father of three adult children. “When I came to Canada, I wanted to find a stable, sustainable, good-paying career. The trades have offered that. I worked as a scaffolder on the LNG Canada facility at Kitimat and the Sturgeon Refinery northeast of Edmonton. Getting my ticket as a carpenter will help increase those opportunities for me.”
The 12-week pre-employment program, which prepares students for a first-year apprenticeship with hands-on training, safety tickets, resume-building and employment supports, was made possible through a collaboration between CLAC and Pathways Alliance, which represents five of Canada’s largest oil sands companies
“Initiatives like this allow us to expand what we have to offer,” says Vinette Kooger, a project coordinator based in Edmonton. “This funding helped establish the training program, which means eight new first-year carpenters will be on the job site by the end of this year.”
The initiative with CLAC is part of a larger outreach campaign, with Pathways and its members committing more than $1 million over the next year to a dozen labour unions and trades programs to increase the number of skilled workers in the country.
“We’ve invested in targeted training programs to help address urgent labour shortages and strengthen Canada’s industrial growth and competitiveness,” says Navjeet Sidhu, Director, Strategic Engagement, for Pathways. “These programs help remove barriers for apprentices, expand training capacity and modernize facilities to ensure industry-ready graduates. Some of these apprentices go on to well-paying jobs in the oil sands, which strengthen our industry, too.”
The Educational Partnership Foundation, an Alberta-based nonprofit group that started offering trades training in 2016, also has worked with Pathways Alliance.
Through its Trades Careers program, the foundation partners with union training centres, school divisions, Indigenous communities and industry leaders to deliver apprenticeship pathway programs.
The foundation used funding from Pathways to establish pre-employment trades programs in Fort McMurray for high school students and in Wood Buffalo for Indigenous people.
“This is our first time collaborating with Pathways and we have a shared goal,” says Angelique Lachance, a welder who serves as the foundation’s Director for Trades Careers. “We’re bridging the gap between industry and education by giving young people a clear starting point for a meaningful career in the trades at a time when Pathways member companies urgently need skilled labour. Bringing these programs to the Wood Buffalo region will help grow a strong local workforce that’s fully trained and ready to support oil sands operations.”
Another collaboration is with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 955, which used funding from Pathways to expand skills training for crane operators, pipe-layer operators and heavy equipment operators.
The union also used some of the funding to do outreach with an underrepresented group, says Chris Flett, Local 955’s Business Manager.
“The funding enabled IUOE 955 to host more than 60 enthusiastic Indigenous students from the Edmonton Catholic School Division’s Braided Journeys program, where they got to learn about, and operate, heavy equipment,” says Flett. “We look forward to welcoming the program back thanks to this support, and to see many of those kids help fill the ongoing labour gap in the skilled trades.”
Kris Chambers, Apprenticeship Coordinator for Ironworkers Local 725 in Calgary, said funding from Pathways was used to purchase 10 tool belts and outfit them with essential tools worth several hundred dollars for apprentices going out to the job site.
”Based on the demand, we will purchase more of these belts, which will be loaned out for the duration of an apprenticeship. If they successfully complete their apprenticeship, the belts will be theirs to keep,” says Chambers. “We believe that providing tool belts will significantly help new apprentices, as it addresses one of the biggest obstacles they face.”
The belts will include tools specific for apprentices in the Reinforcing or Structural trades within the Ironworkers.
“The type of funding is priceless. We want to do everything we can to set them up for success so they can complete their apprenticeship, which are two years in Reinforcing and three years in Structural, and enjoy a great career as an ironworker.”
Kasule sees the same level of commitment at CLAC for his carpentry class.
“This is a big opportunity to advance my career and I’m grabbing it. I tell my classmates, who have many, many years ahead of them in their working lives, to realize what they have available to them and use this training to make a great career for themselves.”
