Skilled Trades Ontario marks one-year anniversary

SCARBOROUGH — Skilled Trades Ontario (STO), Ontario’s agency responsible for apprenticeship and skilled trades certification, is celebrating its one-year anniversary by updating training and curriculum standards. With one-quarter of all apprentices in Canada training in Ontario, STO is delivering on its mandate of increasing labour mobility and improving training standards for apprentices and skilled trades workers.

Since its launch last year, apprenticeship registrations increased by thousands in 2022 compared to 2021 and more than 13,000 students, parents, and teachers attended skilled trades career fairs.

“We’ve made great strides in our first year, and this is only the beginning,” said Melissa Young, CEO/Registrar, Skilled Trades Ontario. “From updating standards to moving more services online, Skilled Trades Ontario is removing barriers and setting apprentices, employers and skilled trades professionals on the path to success.”

STO is releasing a one-window digital portal for apprentices to apply online, keep track of their training progress and pay fees.

“Ontario is facing the largest labour shortage in a generation, which means when you have a career in the skilled trades, you have a career for life,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “That’s why our government is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to attract and train our next generation of apprentices and prepare them for the future.”

The new standards now in place and available on Skilled Trades Ontario’s website are for the horticultural technician, arborist and utility arborist trades. The changes include a revision of the horticultural technician on-the-job training standard to align with the Red Seal Occupational Standard and a structural refresh of the arborist and utility arborist curriculum content for better cohesion, giving apprentices additional time to learn theoretical content.