Should the province provide more support for trades training?

Photo: Okanagan COllege

Okanagan College has ramped up its programs to help fill the need for skilled trades employees in British Columbia.

The Okanagan College Apprentice Hiring Project just started after receiving $3 million in funding injection from the federal Apprenticeship Service program.

The money is being used to help support small and medium-sized businesses in need of skilled, first-year worker apprentices.

“Apprenticeships provide the hands-on work experience that people need to pursue a career in skilled trades,” says Stephen Speers, Okanagan College dean of trades and apprenticeship.

“Employers play a key role in our training and certification system, but in today’s economy, it can be difficult to find the additional resources to offer apprenticeship training and to build our regional workforce. This program helps address that challenge.”

The program provides eligible employers $5,000 for each first-year apprentice they hire and up to two apprentices per year. The incentive is increased to $10,000 when employers hire an apprentice who voluntarily chooses to identify as a person within one or more equity-deserving groups:

• Women

• Persons with disabilities

• Indigenous people

• Members of the LGBTQ2SI+ communities

• Newcomers and visible minorities

This is the only project led by a public college and is promoted to construction and manufacturing companies from as far north as Revelstoke all the way to the Canada-US border.

“With approximately 22 per cent of skilled trades retiring in the next 10 years, it has never been more important to fund, promote and support the training of skilled workers,” says Chuck Cullen, project manager at Team Construction in Kelowna. Cullen graduated from Okanagan College with his Red Seal in Carpentry in 1993.

Small to medium-sized businesses with 499 or fewer employees are eligible for funding.

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