Finance committee  Yes. It's absolutely great to see that direction and that announcement. It definitely supports what we're talking about. As I mentioned earlier, we really want to put tools and materials in the hands of youth or indigenous youth so that they have the best understanding possible a

Finance committee  I would agree that it is a skills mismatch or a skills gap. I think one of the reasons, as I mention in my brief, is that the apprenticeship system—how the system works and how that training takes place—is not necessarily understood by most Canadians, and parents and many influen

Finance committee  I think when we're talking about skills gaps, we're talking about the correct skills that are required for the different occupations. Targeting that specifically across the country is sometimes difficult, because there are regional differences that really impact those occupations

Finance committee  I think we definitely need to identify success stories and individuals who are representative of diversity and an inclusive workforce. We want to make sure people in the community can identify with someone.

Finance committee  We're not identifying a specific program, but I think our goal when we're trying to engage these people is to put tools and materials in the hands of young people and parents.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, Before I begin, I first want to acknowledge that I'm speaking from the unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territory. I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak to you today. Skills/Compétences Canada's mission is to encourage and support a pan

Human Resources committee  I'll pick up on some of the comments that Nathan mentioned around the prestige of the occupations. Maybe there's some way to look at trade certification, perhaps even giving it a different name. I know people who have been involved in trades for a long time are sometimes not a

Human Resources committee  Yes, in Quebec it falls under Compétences Québec.

Human Resources committee  I think your question leads to one of the valuable things that a program like Skills Canada provides. It complements the existing education system and provides an opportunity for young people to actually hold a hammer, to hold a saw, to wire a circuit board, to have that sensory

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, committee, for having us here today. I won't take up a lot of time. As the chair has mentioned, I have been at the committee before, but just to give you a very quick overview of my role, I'm the CEO with Skills/Compétences Canada. We are an

Human Resources committee  As an organization, at many of our provincial and territorial levels, we have structured programs to try to bring teachers into a setting where they can connect with employers and understand also at a very hands-on practical level—teachers and guidance counsellors—what's involved

Human Resources committee  Just to clarify, when I talk about grade 7, 8 and 9 programming, I don't want to exclude programming for the high schools. We still need to have focus on technical vocational education at the high school level, but we need to start to move down into grades 7, 8 and 9. In specif

Human Resources committee  I recommended looking at doing on-the-job and school training concurrently. In most jurisdictions today, people will do approximately 10 months of on-the-job training and then go to school for two months. I was listening to a professor from Switzerland who was talking about the S

Human Resources committee  Yes, I agree that there absolutely needs to be emphasis placed on parents and guidance counsellors. We need to try to connect with parent associations. We need to demonstrate a couple of things. One, we need to have all Canadians understand that when we have a diminished skil

Human Resources committee  I agree 100% with that. There definitely needs to be some continued outreach to guidance counsellors and to teachers who are not working specifically in those sectors of study, that these are valuable careers, that, as I said, they are contributors to society, and that university