Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA) Activity Review – 2023 and 2024

The Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA)

The Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship (CCDA) is a voluntary intergovernmental partnership among the provinces and territories, which are responsible for apprenticeship training and trade certification, and the federal government. The CCDA supports the development of skilled trades in Canada and manages the Red Seal Program.

The CCDA consists of 15 members, including one official from each province and territory and two federal government representatives from the department of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

The Red Seal Program

The Red Seal Program sets common standards and examinations to assess the skills of trades professionals across Canada. Industry is integral in developing the national standard and examinations for each Red Seal trade. This partnership involves the federal government and the provinces and territories, each of which oversees apprenticeship training and trade certification in their respective jurisdictions.

Provinces and territories are also responsible for the administration of the Red Seal Program in their jurisdictions (for example, Red Seal examinations). Most provinces and territories use the Red Seal examination as the final certification exam in designated Red Seal trades.

The CCDA Secretariat

Sponsored by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the CCDA Secretariat provides strategic and secretariat support to the CCDA and the Red Seal Program. The CCDA Secretariat serves as single point of contact to CCDA and its Committee members and facilitates connection with national stakeholders and partners. The CCDA Secretariat also engages in activities including coordination of CCDA meetings, dissemination of public communications, and promotion of the Red Seal Program at apprenticeship and skilled trades events and conferences.

Harmonization Initiative

Since 2015, the CCDA has overseen the development, implementation, and maintenance of the Harmonization Initiative1. The Harmonization Initiative aligns apprenticeship systems across Canada by making training requirements more consistent in the Red Seal trades. As part of this work, the CCDA identified harmonization priorities in consultation with industry and training stakeholders. Recommendations regarding the Red Seal name, total training hours, levels of training and sequencing of training are developed by examining and comparing programming in each of the provinces and territories.

Since 2015, nearly all Red Seal trades have achieved harmonization, with all participating provinces and territories reaching consensus on each of the four designated elements for each respective trade. As of the end of 2024/2025, participating provinces and territories have now reached consensus for harmonization in more than 48 trades, covering about 98 percent of apprentices in participating jurisdictions. Each provincial and territorial apprenticeship authority is responsible for implementation of the harmonized models in their own jurisdiction.

Now that almost all trades have been harmonized, maintaining harmonization is now directly linked to each trade’s Red Seal Occupational Standard and are published on the Red Seal website. The CCDA would like to thank all industry stakeholders and partners who have achieved significant progress on harmonizing Canada’s apprenticeship systems.

Red Seal Product Development

In 2023 and 2024, the CCDA continued its work developing quality Red Seal standards and examinations. A variety of product development activities are held for many of the Red Seal trades every year in consultation with industry. These consultations took place via virtual workshops, in-person workshops and online surveys.

The CCDA continues to support Red Seal exam candidates by offering new online tools, including self-assessment guides for all 54 trades and a comprehensive exam preparation guide. These resources, now available on the Red Seal website, help candidates evaluate their skills and understand exam formats. Trade-specific question types and formula sheets are also provided where applicable.

Over these two years, 35 Red Seal trades had work done to update their Red Seal Occupational Standards (RSOS) and/or examinations. The RSOS and Red Seal examinations developed and completed during 2023 and 2024 are listed in the following table:

Stakeholder Engagement

CCDA at the 2023 International Labour Conference

Chris Stubbs at the
2023 ILC in Geneva

The CCDA nominated Chris Stubbs, Innovation and Inclusion Director at Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission and Harmonization Analyst of the Red Seal Program, to represent Canada at the 2023 International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency, which brings together governments, employers, and workers from its 187 member states to set labour standards, develop policies, and devise programs promoting decent work for all persons. The ILO began discussions in 2022 to develop and adopt international labour standards in apprenticeship.

National Trades and Apprenticeship Meetings

National Trades and Apprenticeship
Meeting 2023 (Ottawa)

The CCDA hosted its National Trades and Apprenticeship meetings in 2023 and 2024, bringing together over fifty national skilled trade stakeholder representatives and partners. The meetings featured presentations from apprenticeship authorities across Canada and partner organizations, such as the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). There were additionally updates provided by the CCDA on its strategic priorities, panel conversations, and small group discussions. The theme of the meetings were Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Apprenticeship (2023) and Responding to the Demand for Skilled Trades (2024).

Awards

In 2023, CCDA awarded four members of the apprenticeship community to recognize their contributions in the promotion, development or top-quality delivery of apprenticeship program in Canada.

The 2023 CCDA Award for Excellence in Apprenticeship Education Winner – Eric Ellefsen

Eric Ellefsen, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Instructor at New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) St. Andrews, was selected by the CCDA as the recipient of the 2023 Award for Excellence in Apprenticeship Education. The award honours apprenticeship educators and training instructors who deliver innovative and top-quality instructional programming to apprentices in Red Seal Trades.

No CCDA awards were issued in 2024.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

In 2023, CCDA concluded the work of two communities of practice (CoPs) that were established to provide a forum for staff across jurisdictions to discuss engaging the under-represented groups in apprenticeship and the skilled trades. Members from these CoPs shared information, best practices, and challenges for enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion within the apprenticeship community, and developed a report on promising practices to engage and empower equity-deserving groups. A summary of these findings are provided in the table below.

Additionally, starting in 2022, the CCDA has begun collecting demographic information on national workshop participants through voluntary surveys. The goal is to understand where to conduct more targeted recruitment to improve representation of equity-deserving groups in Red Seal product development. Recent findings have indicated that CCDA has representation at workshops that is reflective of the demographic profile of the country but could improve representation of younger and newly certified journeypersons.

Addressing Labour Demand

The CCDA worked collaboratively to respond to emerging priorities affecting the Red Seal Program, with a particular emphasis on issues related to labour demand. More than a third of Red Seal trades are anticipated to see increased recruiting challenges in the next several years. Although new registrations in Canada's largest Red Seal trades attained record levels in 2022, the CCDA is working collaboratively to ensure that all trades continue to effectively respond to growing demand.

Initiatives include conducting research on data sources and methodologies to identify labour shortages and demand in the skilled trades, as well as working with Statistics Canada to establish higher frequency apprentice registration data collection. This information will help inform the CCDA in its decision making, particularly as it relates to the delivery of technical training. Additionally, the CCDA is documenting and sharing the current state and best practices for international credential recognition processes used in Canadian provinces and territories. By sharing what is working in each jurisdiction, CCDA can use its resources more efficiently to better support employers engaging in international recruitment.