By 2029, there are expected to be up to 861,000 job openings in BC — more than 77% of these jobs require technical or trades training. The Industry Training Authority (ITA) provides early trades training for youth, helping them secure the skills they need to find a job even before they graduate.
Given that Indigenous youth is the fastest growing demographic in the country – according to Stats Canada – we know there is a young and growing Indigenous population in BC which is an “untapped” resource to drive the future of the economy.
The ITA helps bring trades training to youth and by doing so, they are also helping the Indigenous economy by supporting this growing Indigenous youth segment. Through its many programs the ITA works with employers, apprentices, industry, labour, training providers and government to issue credentials, support apprenticeships, fund programs, set program standards and increase opportunities in the trades.
Thanks to the efforts of ITA and its community engagement last year over 3,000 Indigenous apprenticeships were underway in our province.
Andrew George, who served ITA as an Apprenticeship Advisor from 2014 until 2019 when he left to begin an Indigenous culinary program outline at NVIT, – is extremely proud of ITA’s accomplishments, citing that when he began at ITA there were 50 Indigenous apprenticeships. By the end of 2019, it had surpassed 3000!
At the 2019 Indigenous Business Award (IBA) Gala, ITA was featured in IBA’s inaugural ‘Spotlight Series’ developed to honour and celebrate those organizations who play a vital role in cultivating innovation and powering BC’s growing Indigenous economy.
ITA works with a community-based network of Indigenous community training and employment service agencies across the province and with trades jobs opening up over the next decade, never has there been a better time for Indigenous people to enter skilled trades.