Minister Boissonnault Announces Funding to Support Skills Training for Indigenous People Across Canada

These new projects are targeting the training that Indigenous workers will need for jobs in the green economy, the information and communications technology sector, the infrastructure sector, the blue economy and the Indigenous public sector. The selection of these priority sectors was informed by the national engagement process that took place in advance of the launch of the 2022 call for proposals.

The Minister made the announcement while visiting the Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS) in Vancouver, which will receive more than $21 million for its Indigenous Training and Apprenticeship Program. ACCESS will use this funding to help urban Indigenous people overcome employment barriers and obtain the skills needed to complete technical training in a skilled trade and eventually achieve Red Seal journeyperson status.

The Skills and Partnership Fund is a project-based program supporting partnerships between Indigenous organizations and employers to provide targeted skills training for Indigenous people for in-demand jobs at the local, regional and national level. It is one of two complementary Indigenous labor market programs delivered by Employment and Social Development Canada, the other one being the distinctions-based Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program.

Both of these programs are working with Indigenous partners to ensure that First Nations, Inuit and Métis can fully contribute to and share in Canada's economic success, which is a critical part of advancing reconciliation and self-determination.

• According to the 2021 Census, there are 1.8 million Indigenous people in Canada, accounting for 5% of the total population.
• According to Statistics Canada's Labor Market Survey, the employment rate of Indigenous people in January 2024 was 57.3%.
• Since 2010, the Skills and Partnership Fund has funded 130 projects, serving more than 52,500 Indigenous clients, with over 19,300 of them employed and over 2,900 returning to school.
• Through the Skills and Partnership Fund, the Government is providing an ongoing investment of $50 million per year, starting in 2022–2023.
• The Skills and Partnership Fund aims to close the skills and employment gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and to increase Indigenous participation in the labor market by ensuring that Indigenous people have improved skills and employment opportunities. This is helping to advance the Government of Canada's commitment to reconciliation and to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Call to Action #7 and shared priority #102 of Canada's United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan.